A comparison of postmortem coronary atherosclerosis findings in general aviation pilot fatalities

The autopsy reports of 710 pilots involved in fatal general aviation accidents were received by the FAA for the years 1980-82; they were reviewed to appraise the age-specific prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis among the autopsied group and to compare findings with those of an earlier study. Of the autopsies on pilots killed in aircraft accidents, 69% indicated some degree of coronary atherosclerosis, ranging from minimal to severe. This finding is higher than for a similar group of pilots studied for the years 1975-77. However, only about 2.5% of the 1980-82 study group were found to have severe coronary atherosclerosis, compared with 5% in the previous study. Prevalence of severe coronary atherosclerosis increased with age from 5.8 per 1,000 for ages less than 40 years to 73.9 for age 50 years and above, also reflecting lower age-specific rates for severe coronary atherosclerosis than were found in the previous study.