New treatments and diagnostic measures for cardiovascular diseases – Pilots and ATCOs Cardiovascular evaluation (CaVD-PACE)

The research objectives and expected outcome

New technologies have been released on the market that provide for improved curative or supportive treatments in terms of medication and supportive equipment (implantable or external) that highly improve the quality of life for cardiac patients. Some types of equipment, although performing very well on the ground, are potentially affected by the inflight conditions such as humidity, vibration, pressure, and temperature, which may lead to inflight malfunctions (be it a regular flight or the case of sudden cabin decompression).

The study of such types of equipment will have an impact on crew members, particularly on their fitness to perform their duties, but also on passengers that have such devices, even if flying only occasionally. In a similar way, new treatments have been developed to alleviate certain pathological conditions; nevertheless, for some of these treatments the side effects may be further augmented by the cabin environment to the level of making them incompatible with flying. In the case of medication, the issue has a greater impact on the fitness of crew members rather than of occasional passengers.

The expected outcomes of this research project are:

• evidence-based recommendations for updating the cardiovascular requirements in line with the latest medical developments;
• an impact assessment of the recommended amendments to the cardiovascular requirements;
• guidance material for aeromedical examiners and medical assessors on the updates to the fitness assessment of applicants;
• material (e.g, presentation of the results obtained under this project and training material for professional audiences) to support the management of the proposed amendments; and
• risk management promotion material for aeromedical certificate holders to allow them to early detect and self-manage their cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs).

The requested output

The contractor is required to produce the following:

• A state-of-the-art synopsis that is perceived by the tenderer as relevant to the conduct of the current study, i.e., recent scientific literature (2015 to date), analytical methods as well as methods to assess and compare:
  • cardiovascular health,
  • the impact of comorbidities and lifestyle on cardiovascular health, and
  • the patients’ own perception of health-related quality of life.
• an outline of the research approach that is proposed to tackle each individual task together with a succinct rationale justifying its adoption.
• a list of perceived risks and assumptions that may undermine the fulfilment of all or some of the objectives put forward by this project;
• deliverables that describe in detail the result of each task;
• any other additional element considered relevant that may bear on the duly completion of the work, e.g. access to relevant information, required input from third parties.