Roles of Physiological Responses and Anthropometric Factors on the Gravitational Force Tolerance for Occupational Hypergravity Exposure

Min-Yu Tu, Hsin Chu, Hsin-Hui Chen, Kwo-Tsao Chiang, Je-Ming Hu, Fang-Ling Li, Chen-Shu Yang, Chao-Chien Cheng and Chung-Yu Lai
Additional contact information
Min-Yu Tu: Aviation Physiology Research Laboratory, Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital Gangshan Branch, Kaohsiung City 820, Taiwan
Hsin Chu: Civil Aviation Medical Center, Taipei City 105, Taiwan
Hsin-Hui Chen: Department of General Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City 114, Taiwan
Kwo-Tsao Chiang: Aviation Physiology Research Laboratory, Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital Gangshan Branch, Kaohsiung City 820, Taiwan
Je-Ming Hu: Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City 114, Taiwan
Fang-Ling Li: Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital Beitou Branch, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City 114, Taiwan
Chen-Shu Yang: Aviation Physiology Research Laboratory, Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital Gangshan Branch, Kaohsiung City 820, Taiwan
Chao-Chien Cheng: Aviation Physiology Research Laboratory, Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital Gangshan Branch, Kaohsiung City 820, Taiwan
Chung-Yu Lai: Graduate Institute of Aerospace and Undersea Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City 114, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-10

Abstract: Gravity in the head-to-toe direction, known as +Gz (G force), forces blood to pool in the lower body. Fighter pilots experience decreases in blood pressure when exposed to hypergravity in flight. Human centrifuge has been used to examine the G tolerance and anti-G straining maneuver (AGSM) techniques of military pilots. Some factors that may affect G tolerance have been reported but are still debated. The aim of this study was to investigate the physiological responses and anthropometric factors correlated with G tolerance. We retrospectively reviewed the training records of student pilots who underwent high G training. Variables were collected to examine their correlations with the outcome of 7.5G sustained for 15 s (7.5G profile). There were 873 trainees who underwent 7.5G profile training, 44 trainees (5.04%) could not sustain the test for 15 s. The group with a small heart rate (HR) increase (less than 10%) during the first 1–5 s of the 7.5G profile had a nearly ten-fold higher failing chance compared with the large HR increase group (adjusted odds ratio: 9.91; 95% confidence interval: 4.11–23.88). The chances of failure were inversely related to the HR increase percentage ( p for trend <0.001). Factors, including body mass index, relaxed and straining G tolerance, and AGSM, were found to be negatively correlated with the outcome.

Keywords: G force; hypergravity; heart rate; baroreflex; G-induced loss of consciousness; anti-G straining maneuver; human centrifuge (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/21/8061/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/21/8061/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:21:p:8061-:d:438710

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().