Nociception testing during fixed-wing ambulance flights.

An interventional pilot study on the effects of flight-related environmental changes on the nociception of healthy volunteers.

Abstract

Background: The effects of environmental changes during long-distance air ambulance flights on the somato-sensory system need further investigation. Changes in the nociceptive capacity are conceivable in lights of previous studies from related environmental settings. We investigated the feasibility of somato-sensory testing during air-ambulance flights and measured nociception in volunteers.

Methods: 25 healthy individuals were submitted to a test compilation analogous to the quantitative sensory testing battery - during actual air-ambulance flights. Measurements were paired around the major changes of external factors during take-off/climb and descent/landing. Bland-Altman-Plots were calculated to identify possible systemic effects.

Results: Bland-Altman-Analyses demonstrated that thresholds of stimulus detection and pain as well as above-threshold pain along critical waypoints of travel are not subject to systemic effects but only demonstrate random variations.

Conclusions: We provide a novel description of a real-life experimental set-up and demonstrate the general feasibility of somato-sensory testing during ambulance flights. Systematic effects on the nociception of healthy individuals are not apparent from our data. Our findings open up the possibility of future investigations into potential effects of ambulance flights on patients suffering from acute or chronic pain and in need of analgesia.