An empirical study on medical selection of flying cadets with ear diseases between PLAAF and USAF / 军事医学

ABSTRACT

Objective To determine whether the candidates who are disqualified because of ear diseases during medical selection of flying cadets in China are qualified or not according to United States Air Force ( USAF ) Medical Standards Directory in order to raise suggestions for revising PLAAF medical standards for flying cadets.Methods Data of final selections from 2013 to 2015 and the conclusions were compared by different standards.Results and Conclusion There was a marked difference (x2 =7.99,P0.05) in the disqualification rate related to ear diseases.Vestibular dysfunction and dysacousis were the leading causes of disqualification among ear diseases, making up 45.54% and 38.84% respectively, with other diseases less than 5%.Medical standards for ear diseases in China are more strict than in the USAF, so we should revise some PLAAF standards according to the USAF standards for reference, such as those for vestibular neuritis, dysacousis and tympanic disease in order to enlarge the source of cadets.