Contributions of Hypoxia-Awareness Training to the Familiarization of Personal Symptoms for Occupational Safety in the Flight Environment

Kwo-Tsao Chiang, Min-Yu Tu, Chao-Chien Cheng, Hsin-Hui Chen, Wun-Wei Huang, Yu-Lung Chiu, Yun-Yi Wang and Chung-Yu Lai
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Kwo-Tsao Chiang: Aviation Physiology Research Laboratory, Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital Gangshan Branch, Kaohsiung City 820, Taiwan
Min-Yu Tu: 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
Hsin-Hui Chen: Department of General Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City 114, Taiwan
Wun-Wei Huang: Aviation Physiology Research Laboratory, Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital Gangshan Branch, Kaohsiung City 820, Taiwan
Yu-Lung Chiu: School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City 114, Taiwan
Yun-Yi Wang: Emergency Room, Kaohsiung Armed Force General Hospital, Kaohsiung City 802, Taiwan
Chung-Yu Lai: Graduate Institute of Aerospace and Undersea Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City 114, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-9

Abstract: Hypoxia remains a flight-safety issue in terms of aviation medicine. Hypoxia-awareness training has been used to help aircrew members recognize personal hypoxia symptoms. There is still no study, as yet, to establish the association of within-subject data between inflight hypoxia events and the altitude chamber. The main purpose of our study was to use paired subjects’ data on inflight hypoxia symptoms compared with those experienced during training. A questionnaire was developed to obtain information on military aircrew members in 2018. Among 341 subjects, 46 (13.49%) suffered from inflight hypoxia. The majority of the subjects detected ongoing inflight hypoxia on the basis of their previous experience with personal hypoxia symptoms or sensations in previous chamber flights. Of the top five hypoxia symptoms, the data revealed that hot flashes, poor concentration, and impaired cognitive function appeared both during the inflight events and during the hypoxia-awareness training. The occurrence rate of hypoxia symptoms was found to not be significantly different between the in-flight events and the past chamber flights through an analysis of within-subject data. Because the individual memory had faded away over time, fresher hypoxia awareness training is still mandatory and valuable to recall personal hypoxia experience for military aircrew members.

Keywords: hypoxia; aviation medicine; hypoxia-awareness training; altitude chamber (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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