Analysis of Heart Rate Variability During Emergency Flight Simulator Missions in Fighter Pilots

NCT04487899 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 02
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 18
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The autonomous response of fighter and attack pilots who attend sessions in a flight simulator will be evaluated by measuring and analyzing heart rate variability (HRV).

Conditions

Heart Rate Variability; Autonomic Nervous System

Keywords

Emergency missions; Assesment; Military Health Services; heart rate variability; autonomic nervous system

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Root Mean Square of the Successive Differences (RMSSD)

  It indicates the degree of activation of the Parasympathetic Nervous System on the cardiovascular system. It is obtained from the square root of the mean value of the sum of the squared differences of all successive RR intervals. This parameter reports the short-term variations of the RR intervals. It is directly associated with short-term variability.

  1 week

• Stress Score

  It is an index described by Naranjo-Orellana et al. to facilitate physiological interpretation of Poincaré plot. It is expressed as the inverse of the SD2 diameter multiplied by 1000 and is considered directly proportional to the sympathetic activity in the sinus node.

  1 week

• Sympathetic/parasympathetic ratio (S/PS)

  It is also described by Naranjo-Orellana et al., S/PS is expressed as the quotient of SS and SD1, and it is considered to reflect autonomic balance - that is, the relationship between sympathetic and parasympathetic activity

  1 week

Secondary Outcomes (9)

• Standard Deviation 1 (SD1)

  1 week

• Standard Deviation 2 (SD2)

  1 week

• Min_HR

  1 week

• Max_HR

  1 week

• Mean_HR

  1 week

Study Arms (2)

Instructors group

Group of flight instructors at the reactor school.

Device: Analysis of heart rate variability

Students group

Group of students at the reactor school.

Device: Analysis of heart rate variability

Interventions

Analysis of heart rate variability DEVICE

The HR HRV interval of the heartbeat (variations in the time interval between beats) was used as a measure of autonomous modulation, and the Firstbeat Bodyguard monitor (Firstbeat Technologies, Jyväskylä, Finland) was used to record HRV data during the session with emergency situations in the flight simulator. Data was downloaded from the devices to a computer using Firstbeat Uploader software (Firstbeat Technologies), and all R-R interval series were imported into the Kubios software package (University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland). To calculate the autonomous equilibrium, the commonly used HRV method based on the Poincaré graph was used (Brennan et al., 2001; Mourot et al., 2004).

Instructors group; Students group

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The selection of the sample was made in the accessible population of the Talavera la Real Air Base (Badajoz).

You may qualify if:

• Pilots who had the status of instructor or student assigned at the time of assessment to the ALA 23 district of the Talavera la Real Air Base of the Ministry of Defense of the Government of Spain (Badajoz).

You may not qualify if:

• Any uncontrolled neurological or cardiac disorder.
• Being involved in ongoing medical-legal conflicts.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universidad de Extremadura: lead

Study Sites (1)

Universidad de Extremadura

Badajoz, 06006, Spain

Location

Related Publications (7)

• de la Cruz Torres B, Albornoz Cabello M, Garcia Bermejo P, Naranjo Orellana J. Autonomic responses to ultrasound-guided percutaneous needle electrolysis of the patellar tendon in healthy male footballers. Acupunct Med. 2016 Aug;34(4):275-9. doi: 10.1136/acupmed-2015-010993. Epub 2016 Jan 20.

  PMID: 26792776 BACKGROUND

• Kitagawa Y, Kimura K, Yoshida S. Spectral analysis of heart rate variability during trigger point acupuncture. Acupunct Med. 2014 Jun;32(3):273-8. doi: 10.1136/acupmed-2013-010440. Epub 2014 Mar 7.

  PMID: 24610637 BACKGROUND

• Mourot L, Bouhaddi M, Perrey S, Rouillon JD, Regnard J. Quantitative Poincare plot analysis of heart rate variability: effect of endurance training. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2004 Jan;91(1):79-87. doi: 10.1007/s00421-003-0917-0. Epub 2003 Sep 4.

  PMID: 12955518 BACKGROUND

• Gil-Rodas F, Pedret C, Ramos-Castro J, Capdevila-Ortís L. Variabilidad de la frecuencia cardíaca: concepto, medidas y relación con aspectos clínicos (I). Arch Med Deporte Rev Fed Esp Med Deporte Confed Iberoam Med Deporte. 2008;(123):41-8.

  BACKGROUND

• Malik M. Heart rate variability: Standards of measurement, physiological interpretation, and clinical use: Task force of the European Society of Cardiology and the North American Society for Pacing and Electrophysiology. Ann Noninvasive Electrocardiol. 1996;1(2):151-81.

  BACKGROUND

• Naranjo Orellana J, de la Cruz Torres B, Sarabia Cachadina E, de Hoyo M, Dominguez Cobo S. Two new indexes for the assessment of autonomic balance in elite soccer players. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2015 May;10(4):452-7. doi: 10.1123/ijspp.2014-0235. Epub 2014 Oct 29.

  PMID: 25364865 BACKGROUND

• Fernandez-Morales C, Espejo-Antunez L, Clemente-Suarez VJ, Tabla-Hinojosa FB, Albornoz-Cabello M. Analysis of heart rate variability during emergency flight simulator missions in fighter pilots. BMJ Mil Health. 2024 Jul 24;170(4):296-302. doi: 10.1136/military-2022-002242.

  PMID: 36585028 DERIVED

Study Officials

• Luis Espejo-Antúnez, PhD

  Universidad de Extremadura

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: CASE ONLY
• Time Perspective: CROSS SECTIONAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 22, 2020
• First Posted: July 27, 2020
• Study Start: October 1, 2019
• Primary Completion: November 18, 2019
• Study Completion: March 10, 2020
• Last Updated: September 16, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

ES (1)