Health change in air traffic controllers: a prospective study. I. Background and description.

The background, rationale, and design of a 3-year prospective study of health change in 416 air traffic controllers is described. This study was designed to assess the relevant variables that might predict future physical and psychological health change. This report describes the major variables that were assessed in all participants, which included endocrine, cardiovascular, and behavioral differences in response to work, the occurrence of significant life events, work attitude and morale, availability and usefulness of psychosocial supports, and job commitment and performance. Future reports will describe the contribution, both individually and interactively, of these various factors to the risk for future illness. A major hypothesis to be tested by this study is that health change among air traffic controllers can be predicted by differential responsivity to work.