Continuous ECG monitoring on civil air crews during flight operations

Cardiovascular disease is one of the disorders resulting in sudden incapacitation and is the most common malady leading to medical retirement. It is very important for us to control this disease among pilots. Generally, pilots undergo medical checkups at health control service on the ground, but they do not undergo these checkups during flight operations. We obtained a continuous ECG recording on four pilots to assess cardiac reserve capacity for mental load during flight operation. Results show that no significant ischemic changes of ST-segment and T-wave during flight were noticed except in one case of atrial fibrillation in which significant depression of ST-segment occurred while walking up a stairway after flight. An increased number of ectopic beats was found in another normal case. In general, it was suspected that mental load is greater at landing than takeoff.