Healthcare avoidance in aircraft pilots due…

Healthcare avoidance in aircraft pilots due to concern for aeromedical certification loss: A survey of 3,765 pilots

Citation: Hoffman, W. R., Aden, J., Barbera, R. D., Mayes, R., Willis, A., Patel, P., & Tvaryanas, A. (2022). Healthcare avoidance in aircraft pilots due to concern for aeromedical certificate loss: A survey of 3,765 pilots. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 64(4), e245–e248.

In this anonymous survey of 3,765 U.S. pilots, 56.1% reported a history of healthcare avoidance behavior specifically because they were concerned about the potential loss of their aeromedical certificate. Additionally, 45.7% sought informal medical care rather than formal healthcare, and 26.8% admitted to misrepresenting or withholding information on written healthcare questionnaires for the same reason. The study concludes that healthcare avoidance is a significant issue among pilots, driven by concerns over career impact, and highlights the need for further research and policy interventions to address this barrier to care.