Time Course of Simulator Sickness in Asian Military Pilots

INTRODUCTION: This study sought to determine the incidence, severity, and time-course of simulator sickness (SS) among Asian military pilots following flight simulator training.METHODS: A survey was conducted on Republic of Singapore Air Force pilots undergoing simulator training. Each subject completed a questionnaire immediately after (0H), and at the 3-h (3H) and 6-h (6H) marks. The questionnaire included the simulator sickness questionnaire (SSQ) and a subjective scale to rate their confidence to fly.RESULTS: In this study, 258 pilots with a median age of 31.50 yr (range, 2155 yr) and mean age of 32.61 6.56 yr participated. The prevalence of SS was 48.1% at 0H, 30.8% at 3H, and 16.4% at 6H. Based on a threshold of an SSQ score >10, the prevalence of operationally significant SS was 33.3% at 0H, 13.2% at 3H, and 8.1% at 6H. The most frequent symptoms were fatigue (38.1%), eye strain (29.0%), and fullness of head (19.9%). There was no significant difference in mean scores between rotary and fixed wing pilots. Older, more experienced pilots had greater scores at 0H, but this association did not persist. A correlation was found between SSQ score and self-reported confidence.DISCUSSION: To our knowledge, this study is the first to report the prevalence of operationally significant SS in Asian military pilots over serial time points. Most pilots with SS are able to subjectively judge their fitness to fly. Sensitivity analysis suggests the true prevalence of SS symptoms at 3H and 6H to be closer to 23.8% and 12.0%, respectively.Loi JEQ, Lee MLL, Tan BBC, See B.