Brescon Caroline, Pegaz Pierre-Yves, Godet Patrick, Malgoyre Alexandra, Charlot Keyne
Forces Françaises aux Emirats Arabes Unis, Centre Médical des Armées, Base Aérienne d'Al Dhafra, United Arab Emirates.
Forces Françaises aux Emirats Arabes Unis, Base Aérienne d'Al Dhafra, United Arab Emirates.
Mil Med. 2019 Mar 1;184(3-4):e217-e222. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usy233.
Fighter jet pilots may adopt a voluntary hypohydration strategy hours before take-off to avoid urinating in flight. This may favor sortie-induced dehydration and potentially increase flying errors. Since 2015, French pilots have used a urinary sheath (US) that appears to have resolved this problem. However, its effect has never been assessed.
Urine specific gravity (USG) before and after sorties, inflight intake (water and food) and loss (sweat and urine), and changes in bodyweight were measured during 44 long (~370 minutes) sorties (22 in 2015 without a US, No-US group, and 22 in 2017 with a US, US group).
The USG before sorties was lower in the US than No-US group (1.019 ± 0.008 vs 1.028 ± 0.006, p = 0.008) and the proportion of hypohydrated pilots (>1.020) was lower in the US than No-US group (29 vs 90%, p = 0.007). Total loss and intake were higher in the US group (1,793 ± 640 and 927 ± 585 g, respectively) than in the No-US group (1,337 ± 382 and 359 ± 191 g, respectively; p < 0.006). Changes in bodyweight, both absolute (-977 ± 367 g for the No-US and -866 ± 593 g for the US group) and relative (1.16 ± 0.51% for the No-US and 1.13 ± 0.77% for the US group) during sorties were not altered by wearing a US.
The use of a US successfully mitigates preflight dehydration, as reflected by decreases in USG, showing that pilots, at least partially, abandon preflight voluntary hypohydration strategies. It also favored water and food intake during flight without enhancing inflight dehydration, shown by the parallel increases in loss (urine and sweat) when wearing a US.
战斗机飞行员可能会在起飞前数小时采取自愿性低水合策略，以避免在飞行中排尿。这可能会导致飞行任务引发的脱水，并可能增加飞行失误。自2015年以来，法国飞行员开始使用尿套，这似乎解决了这个问题。然而，其效果从未得到评估。
在44次长时间（约370分钟）的飞行任务中（2015年22次未使用尿套，即无尿套组；2017年22次使用尿套，即尿套组），测量飞行任务前后的尿比重（USG）、飞行中的摄入量（水和食物）和损失量（汗液和尿液）以及体重变化。
尿套组飞行任务前的尿比重低于无尿套组（1.019±0.008 vs 1.028±0.006，p = 0.008），尿套组低水合飞行员（>1.020）的比例低于无尿套组（29% vs 90%，p = 0.007）。尿套组的总损失量和摄入量高于无尿套组（分别为1793±640克和927±585克）（无尿套组分别为1337±382克和359±191克；p < 0.006）。飞行任务期间的体重变化，无论是绝对值（无尿套组为-977±367克，尿套组为-866±593克）还是相对值（无尿套组为1.16±0.51%，尿套组为1.13±0.77%），都不受尿套佩戴的影响。
使用尿套成功减轻了飞行前的脱水，这体现在尿比重的降低上，表明飞行员至少部分放弃了飞行前的自愿性低水合策略。它还有利于飞行期间的水和食物摄入，而不会加剧飞行中的脱水，尿套组中损失量（尿液和汗液）的平行增加表明了这一点。
