Health-related quality of life in pilots of a Chinese commercial airline

Abstract

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is currently an important issue in the medical industry. However, data on HRQOL in commercial airline pilots are lacking. This study aimed to investigate HRQOL and its related factors in a sample of commercial pilots. A purposive sample of 373 participants was recruited from a Chinese Commercial Airline. The median (IQR) score for physical health, psychological health and social relationship were 64.3 (75–53.6), 62.5 (70.8–54.2) and 75 (75–58.3), respectively. The mean (SD) score for Environment was 62.2 (16). After controlling for demographics, the multiple linear regression analyses showed that physical activity, fruit intake and vegetable intake were positively correlated with HRQOL score (p < .05), while time-zone flights, smoking, alcohol drinking and being dyslipidemic showed a negative correlation with HRQOL score (p < .05). Healthcare providers should consider time-zone flights, behavioral factors and dyslipidemia when planning related health promotion and disease prevention programs for commercial pilots in the future.

Keywords:

• HRQOL
• physical activity
• pilots
• time-zone flights

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article.

Acknowledgment

The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and valuable suggestions and critically reviewing the paper.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Fund Committee and Civil Aviation Administration of China Jointly Funded Project (No. U1633130) and the Civil Aviation Medicine Center (General Hospital) Scientific Research Fund-funded Project (No.201939)