Healthcare Avoidance in Aircraft Pilots Due to Concern for Aeromedical Certificate Loss: A Survey of 3765 Pilots

Objective: To study healthcare avoidance behavior in pilots related to fear of aeromedical certificate loss.

Methods: Voluntary participation in an anonymous survey distributed to U.S. pilots.

Results: A total of 3765 pilots were included in the analysis. There were 56.1% of pilots (n = 2111) who reported a history of healthcare avoidance behavior due fear for losing their aeromedical certificate. There were 45.7% who sought informal medical care (n = 1721) and 26.8% who misrepresented/withheld information on a written healthcare questionnaire for fear of aeromedical certificate loss (n = 994).

Conclusions: Aircraft pilots may participate in healthcare avoidance behavior related to fear of losing their aeromedical certificate. Further work is necessary to address pilot healthcare avoidance.