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Can Cardiac Failure Be Caused By Excessive Flying As A Pilot?
My boyfriend was a pilot and died suddenly of cardiac failure in December 2009. He didn't have a known heart condition. He had been putting in extreme hours at work and was flying alot. Can flying too much cause you to have heart issues? What could have caused his heart to fail? He was only 47.
Mon, 4 May 2015
Hello! Thank you for asking on HCM! I would like to express my condolences for your loss. Regarding your concern there isn't any strong evidences relating flying with an increased rate of heart failure. But extreme and prolonged hours of work may trigger different heart disorders like hypertension, heart attack, life-threatening arrhythmia, which may present consequently with heart failure. As recent evidence show, new onset heart failure management may really be challenging on acute settings. Most probable seems to have been a heart attack (myocardial infarction) complicated with severe heart failure.
Hope to have been helpful to you. Greetings! Dr. Iliri
Hope to have been helpful to you. Greetings! Dr. Iliri
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There is no evidence to suggest that flying too much can cause heart failure or heart issues.
He may have had a condition called as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which can cause sudden death.
An autopsy report will confirm this if it is done.
He may have had a condition called as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which can cause sudden death.
An autopsy report will confirm this if it is done.
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