Prevalence of and Trends for Dyslipidemia among Pilots from one Airline in China

Introduction: Most of previous studies on dyslipidemia among pilots were cross-sectional surveys which cannot explore the temporal trend of dyslipidemia, and these studies were normally conducted at least five years ago. In addition, studies focusing on pilots in Southwest China are scarce. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of and trends in dyslipidemia among pilots from an airline in Southwest China. Methods: This cross-sectional study evaluated the prevalence of adverse concentrations of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglycerides (TG) among all pilots from one airline in Southwest China in 2015. Analyses of linear trends in age-adjusted prevalence of dyslipidemia were conducted overall across a 3-year period (2013, 2014, and 2015). Results: In 2015, 3.4% of participating pilots had a high TC concentration, 16.4% had a high TG concentration, 2.6% had a high LDL-C concentration, 25.1% had a low HDL-C concentration, and 33.1% had dyslipidemia. Between 2013 and 2015, there were decreasing linear trends in age-adjusted prevalence of high TG (32% vs. 19.9%; P < 0.001) and dyslipidemia (51.9% vs. 38.4%; P < 0.001). During this 3-year period, declining trends were also observed in age-adjusted prevalence of LDL-C (10.0% vs. 4%; P < 0.001) and HDL-C (33.2% vs. 28.3%; P = 0.015). However, there was no change from 2013 to 2015 in age-adjusted prevalence of high TC (2.8% vs. 5.0%; P = 0.168). Conclusion: From 2013 to 2015, there were favorable trends in the prevalence of high TG, low HDL-C, high LDL-C, and overall dyslipidemia but no significant change in high TC among pilots from one airline in southwest China. The reasons for these trends need to be further explored.