Objective: To determine if psychiatric hospitalization precluded a return to occupational status in United States Air Force aviators.
Design: A 7-yr retrospective review that joined hospitalization and occupational databases using individual identifiers.
Subjects: From a population of over 35,000 USAF rated aviation officers present between January 1986 and December 1990, 214 were both psychiatrically hospitalized and on flying status the quarter prior.
Primary outcome measure: Return to flying duties during a minimum follow-up period of 2 yr.
Results: Within 2 yr from psychiatric admission, 138 (64.5%) aviators returned to flying status; 141 (65.9%) returned over 7 yr. In this patient population, an affective disorder diagnosis predicted poor outcome (chi 2 = 12.86; df = 1; p = 0.0003), independent of length of hospitalization.
Conclusion: Psychiatric hospitalization did not prevent a return to flying status for a majority of these high functioning aviators. Although an affective disorder diagnosis negatively affected occupational outcome, it is unclear whether institutional policy or poor prognosis was etiologic.