Open AccessStructure-function indices of echocardiography in civil aviation pilots of senior age groups
Author(s) -
A. Yu. Kuzmina,
М. В. Ходырева
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
kliničeskaâ medicina
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2412-1339
pISSN - 0023-2149
DOI - 10.30629/0023-2149-2020-98-6-424-430
Subject(s) - medicine , ventricle , civil aviation , cardiology , contractility , diastole , aviation , blood pressure , engineering , aerospace engineering
Echocardiographyis an important method for non-invasive evaluation of the structural and functional indicators of thecardiovascularsystem,which is valuable in early detection of the cardiovascular pathology, especially in older people,because, the prevalence of the most cardiovascular diseases significantly increases with age.Materialand methods. 1189civil aviation pilots aged 54–68 years who underwent routine in-patient examination at the Central Clinical Hospital of CivilAviationon a regular basis were examined with further medical assessment at the Central Medical Flight Expert Commissionof Civil Aviation of the Russian Federation in 2009–2010. The average age was 56.75 ± 0.07. Transthoracic echocardiographywas performed in 1170 flight personnel (98.4%) for evaluation of the structural and functional indicators of the cardiovascularsystem.Results. Echocardiographyabnormalities were detected in 95.7% of pilots of the senior age group, 14.1% of thesechanges were in mixt form. Signs of atherosclerosis of the thoracic aorta were most common — 94% of cases. Left ventriclediastolic dysfunction of type I was noted in 60.3% of pilots. Structural and/or functional changes of the heart valves werenoted in 18.2% of the subjects, most of them were localized in the aortic valves: 16% of cases. Dilation of the heart chambersweredetected in 4.8% of the examined. LVH was found in 1% of pilots of the senior age group, and signs of LV concentricremodeling— in 60.7% of individuals. The decrease in LV myocardial contractility was detected only in one pilot with EF53%. Small heart abnormalities were identified only in 0.6% of cases.Conclusions. Echocardiographyabnormalities are quitecommon in pilots of the senior age group, however, «gross» echocardiographic changes are much less common than in thepopulation, which is natural, because these individuals undergo initial medical screening and subsequent follow-up. The use ofthis method for screening in civil aviation pilots of senior age groups is reasonable, because the prevalence of cardiovasculardisease in this group is increasing.