Does Aging or Endothelial Dysfunction Pose a Threat to Military Crewmembers
Abstract
Aging is a physiologic process associated with an increase of health conditions limiting somewhat an aviator 5 performance abilities generally. what is more, vascular aging is closely linked with an increase in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. This may be related to cellular changes due to an increased oxidative stress or/and to an impaired release of vasoactive mediators by endothelium cells. Endothelium-dependent relaxation decreases with aging. Consequent cardiovascular changes and damages with or without the presence of other risk factors and bad life style habits may speed up that process. This may lead to clinical manifestation of the disease, grounding, treatment and even to a permanent disqualification from flying duty not surprisingly within the third and fourth decade. Besides aging, which is an independent risk factor per se, there are new scientific discoveries which have refined our understanding of the endothelium dysfunction process complexity. Additionally, it has been proven that some medicaments like HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, ACE inhibitors and Ca antagonists, particularly those with a long duration of action, improve endothelium function of the coronary circulation in patients with atherosclerosis or hypertension along with an appropriate physical activity, smoking cessation, glucose intake restriction etc. The content of this paper is focused on highlighting new aspects of aging, links between them, mechanisms of action and interaction.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADP010578
Entities
People
- M. A. Rada
Organizations
- Institute of Aviation, Warsaw