Sun Jun-Ya, Liao Yang, Guo Hua, Jia Hongbo
Air Force Medical Center, Air Force Medical University, Beijing, 100142, China.
BMC Public Health. 2024 Dec 23;24(1):3561. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-20856-4.
There is a lack of data support and scientific validation of the Exemption Approach policy for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, in terms of protecting the health of flight crews and meeting the requirements for passenger and cargo transportation in emergencies, in terms of its safety and the circumstances that contribute to pilots' symptoms of jet lag and the risk of fatigue.
To assess pilots' sleep issues related to jet lag symptoms and fatigue, this study evaluated an example of risk management for flight crews on flights across time zones during the COVID-19 pandemic. To evaluate the crew's sleep status, variations in sleep index changes between before and after the flights, variations in sleepiness levels, and data on sleep indexes recorded by ActiGraph bracelets were collected from 146 crew members before and after flights eastward or westward across time zones. Sleepiness levels predicted by applying the SAFE model were also determined.
Whether flying east or west across time zones, the crew's sleep indexes were relatively similar at the end of a flight during a layover. However, a comparison with the pre-flight period showed that the sleep indexes of the crew were slightly more disturbed after the eastward flight compared with those after the westward one. In addition, the SAFE model predicted a higher rate of change in crew mean sleepiness levels between before and after the flight for the eastward flight than for the westward one; however, the Karolinska Sleepiness Score (KSS) of the pilots on either eastward or westward flights did not exceed 5 ("not alert or sleepy").
Flight crew adaptation to the Exemption Approach policy during the COVID-19 pandemic was assessed by evaluating the sleep problems of crews flying eastward or westward across time zones.
在应对新冠疫情的豁免政策方面，缺乏数据支持和科学验证，该政策在保护机组人员健康、满足紧急情况下客货运输要求、安全性以及导致飞行员时差症状和疲劳风险的相关情况等方面均存在不足。
为评估与时差症状和疲劳相关的飞行员睡眠问题，本研究评估了新冠疫情期间跨时区飞行机组人员风险管理的一个实例。为评估机组人员的睡眠状况，收集了146名机组人员在跨时区向东或向西飞行前后的睡眠指数变化、嗜睡程度变化以及ActiGraph手环记录的睡眠指数数据，以评估飞行前后睡眠指数的变化情况。还确定了应用SAFE模型预测的嗜睡程度。
无论跨时区向东还是向西飞行，机组人员在经停航班结束时的睡眠指数相对相似。然而，与飞行前相比，向东飞行后机组人员的睡眠指数比向西飞行后略受干扰。此外，SAFE模型预测，向东飞行机组人员飞行前后平均嗜睡程度的变化率高于向西飞行；然而，向东或向西飞行的飞行员的卡罗林斯卡嗜睡量表（KSS）得分均未超过5分（“不警觉或困倦”）。
通过评估跨时区向东或向西飞行机组人员的睡眠问题，对新冠疫情期间机组人员对豁免政策的适应性进行了评估。
