ArticleInternational archives of occupational and environmental health2020
Age, aging and physiological dysregulation in safety-critical work: a retrospective longitudinal study of helicopter emergency medical services pilots.
Article in International archives of occupational and environmental health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Molecular markers, mechanisms and metrics of biological aging: a scoping review.Frontiers in aging · 2026Review
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
purposeConcurrent progressive physiological dysregulation in different organ systems may be a driver of phenotypical frailty and is associated with morbidity and performance declines. In aging societies, health and performance of older workers are given increased scrutiny. However, there are few studies researching the effect of age on physiological dysregulation specifically in the working population and none for high-risk occupations with close medical supervision. Here, we aim to investigate this association cross-sectionally and longitudinally in a healthy sample of European helicopter emergency medical services pilots.
methodsUsing a retrospective cohort design, we constructed indices of (a) physiological dysregulation state (N = 52 participants) and (b) pace of change (N = 41 participants, average follow-up 7.9 years) based on measurements of 18 health risk-associated biomarkers, as documented in the participating pilots' aeromedical examination records. The relationship of these two indices with average age (range 27.9-60.6 years) and average baseline age (29.3-57.2 years), respectively, was modeled by weighted least squares regression, adjusting for region of origin, smoking, and medication.
resultsLongitudinally, dysregulation significantly increased over the follow-up period, but the pace of change did not increase with baseline age. Cross-sectionally, we observed a significant negative quadratic effect of age on physiological dysregulation state, with maximum estimated physiological dysregulation at ages 45-50.
conclusionsAs hypothesized, progression of dysregulation over approximately 8 years is observable in a healthy occupational sample but it does not accelerate (i.e., does not increase with baseline age). Increases in dysregulation are counteracted by what appears to be a strong healthy worker survivor effect. The study shows that the development of physiological dysregulation in high-risk occupations differs from that in the general population and that physiological dysregulation indices may be helpful in reconciling safety concerns and fair treatment of aging workers in safety-critical jobs.
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