Disease evaluated on return-to-work examinations: aviation ground personnel compared to other workers

Aviation ground personnel are subjected to a wide range of chemical and physical exposures that may lead the occupational physician to see a different spectrum of morbidity in the airport compared to other settings. It is essential to determine the most common medical problems in airport ground personnel in order to identify possible work-related conditions and in order to set the priorities for establishing health promotion programs and training occupational physicians. We compiled the diagnoses in 1000 consecutive visits of ground workers to the airport clinic for return-to-work examinations, and compared them to 7000 workers seen in general occupational clinics. The frequencies of the various categories of disease were similar in both type of clinics, except that low back pain was significantly more common in the ground personnel [251 (20.6%) vs. 1176 (15.2%), p < 0.003]. Over 80% of the diseases occurred in 10 diagnostic categories: cancer, fractures, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, knee pain, low back pain, neck pain, operations for various medical conditions, phonal trauma, and pregnancy. We conclude that, except for low back pain, the spectrum of disease seen in the airport clinic is not significantly different from that seen in general occupational medicine clinics. Focusing on the interaction of a limited number of diseases with the work environment will provide the occupational physician with a comprehensive training program, and the emphasis needed for establishing health promotion programs.