Around 13,000 UK pilots and air traffic control officers (ATCO) have responded to a Civil Aviation Authority-sponsored long-term study intended to determine if these professions face different health risks than the population at large. The CAA says it is particularly interested to find out whether they face higher risks from cancers and heart disease, writes David Learmount.
The study, being carried out by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has surveyed all those who held active licences at any time between 1989 and 1999, and received 13,000 responses. The purpose, says the CAA, once results have been obtained, is to be able to provide health advice to pilots and controllers, and to "guide the medical screening requirements of licence holders in their periodic medical examinations". The CAA says the study is not related to the European Union standard retirement age limit of 65, with most pilots/ATCOs being required to retire earlier.
Now the CAA is seeking the permission of all those who returned the questionnaire - and those who did not - to pass their names and addresses to the National Heath Services Central Registers so the deaths of, or incidence of cancer in, the licence holders can be notified in unidentifiable form to the London school, to enable it to extend the analysis (Flight International, 23-29 November).
Source: Flight International
