Health in the Skies: A Narrative Review of the Issues Faced by Commercial Airline Pilots.

While the health of airline pilots is crucial to ensuring the safe travel of millions of people worldwide, they remain vulnerable to a variety of health challenges due to the nature of their job. The purpose of this narrative review is to provide a comprehensive summary of the most common health issues experienced by commercial airline pilots. By examining the published literature on this topic, we sought to identify areas where further research is needed to understand better the health risks associated with being a pilot and to develop effective interventions to address these risks. We also highlight how recent technological advances in digital health can be leveraged to conduct research into the potential usefulness of telehealth assessments for identifying occupational hazards in the aviation sector and providing targeted interventions. Overall, addressing the challenges of taking care of pilots' health and ensuring public safety will require a collaborative effort among airlines, governments, and regulators. Prioritizing pilot health and safety can actually improve profitability in the aviation sector by reducing costs associated with absenteeism, turnover, and accidents.

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Occupational Health Hazards among Health Care Workers of Northern Saudi Arabia: A Multicenter Study.

Health care workers (HCWs) working in different health care facilities are exposed to many hazards, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This questionnaire-based cross-sectional study aimed to assess the prevalence, pattern, and risk factors of occupational health hazards faced by 438 randomly selected HCWs from northern Saudi Arabia. The HCWs are commonly exposed to needle stick injuries (34.5%) under the biological hazards category; and work-related stress (69.6%) under the non-biological hazards categories. The significant associated factors were work setting (ref: Primary Health Center: Adjusted OR (AOR) = 2.81, 95%CI = 1.21-4.59, p = 0.017), smoking status (ref.: non-smoker: AOR = 1.73, 95%CI = 1.03-2.91, p = 0.039), and mean sleeping duration per day (AOR = 1.22, 95%CI = 1.04-1.43, p = 0.014) for biological, and smoking status (ref: non-smoker: AOR = 2.16, 95%CI = 1.09-3.29, p = 0.028), and mean sleeping duration per day (AOR = 1.35, 95%CI = 1.07-1.70, p = 0.013) for non-biological categories. This study revealed several risk factors and occupational health hazards that HCWs are exposed to during their work time. Periodic training and follow-up assessments regarding bio-safety measures for the HCWs should be implemented. Finally, future explorative studies are warranted on the feasibility of implementing rotation-based postings for the HCWs in different health care settings.