Navy Medical Service, Republic of Singapore Navy, AFPN 6060, 126 Tanah Merah Coast Road, Singapore 498822.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Changi General Hospital, Singapore.
Undersea Hyperb Med. 2024 Third Quarter;51(3):221-229.
Studies suggest that COVID-19 infections may have longer-term and more significant complications, even with mild or absent symptoms. This may predispose divers to pulmonary barotrauma, arterial gas embolisms, and reduced exercise tolerance, and impact physical and cognitive performance during diving. Military diving is physically, physiologically, and psychologically taxing on the individual. This study aims to assess the incidence of complications after COVID-19 infections in a cohort of active military divers and the incidence of diving-related injuries such as decompression sickness and barotrauma following recovery from acute COVID-19 infections. A single-center, retrospective cohort study of complications after COVID-19 infections was done in a cohort of the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) Naval Diving Unit (NDU) Divers and involved the collection of retrospective data for 329 military divers who were diagnosed with COVID-19 infection from 25 Mar 2020 and 13 Feb 2023. We found no clinical or subclinical complications after COVID-19 infection in our fully vaccinated, low-risk population of NDU divers after asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 infection. There were also no incidences of diving-related injuries related to COVID-19 after recovery from the acute illness. Based on the study results, it is recommended that all military divers with asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 infections return to military diving activities immediately after recovery from acute COVID-19 infection with resolution of symptoms. As existing guidelines recommend, divers with moderate to critical COVID-19 infection should be reviewed by a diving physician and undergo necessary investigations before returning to military diving.
研究表明，即使 COVID-19 感染症状轻微或不存在，也可能会导致长期且更严重的并发症。这可能使潜水员容易发生肺气压伤、动脉气体栓塞和运动耐力降低，并影响潜水时的身体和认知表现。军事潜水对个人的身体、生理和心理都有很高的要求。本研究旨在评估 COVID-19 感染后现役军事潜水员的并发症发生率，以及在急性 COVID-19 感染康复后潜水相关伤害（如减压病和气压伤）的发生率。这是一项对 COVID-19 感染后并发症的单中心回顾性队列研究，在新加坡共和国海军（RSN）海军潜水员部队（NDU）潜水员队列中进行，涉及收集 2020 年 3 月 25 日至 2023 年 2 月 13 日期间被诊断为 COVID-19 感染的 329 名军事潜水员的回顾性数据。我们发现，在我们完全接种疫苗、低风险的 NDU 潜水员人群中，无症状或轻度 COVID-19 感染后，没有临床或亚临床并发症。急性疾病康复后，也没有与 COVID-19 相关的潜水相关伤害的发生。基于研究结果，建议所有无症状或轻度 COVID-19 感染的军事潜水员在急性 COVID-19 感染症状缓解后立即恢复军事潜水活动。与现有指南建议一致，中度至重度 COVID-19 感染的潜水员应在恢复军事潜水前由潜水医生进行审查并进行必要的检查。
