Investigation on the chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic-pain syndrome and its risk factors in pilots

Objective To understand the chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic-pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) and related factors that affect the occurrence in pilots and to discuss the effective preventive measures.Methods An epidemiological survey of CP/CPPS was sent to 384 pilots.The questionnaire involved the concerns of age,sexual activity frequency,smoking,drinking,diet,holding back,and aircraft type,flying hours,the frequency of night flight and other related information,as well as the symptoms that referred to National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH CPSI) score sheet.The CP/CPPS was diagnosed upon the reading of the questionnaire and the patients were classified depending on the examination of prostate fluid and "twocup" urinalysis.The pilots with CP/CPPS were divided into 2 groups by flying hours:＜ 1 500 h and ≥1 500 h.Results Thirty eight out of 384 pilots were diagnosed as CP/CPPS (NIH-CPSI≥ 10).The cases of inflammatory (type Ⅲ] A) and noninflammatory (type Ⅲ] B) were 22 (57.9%) and 16 (42.1％) respectively.Three out of 8 possible risk factors were screened out with significance:urine holding back,spicy diet and excessive abstinence (OR＝ 4.828,3.232,0.495,P＜0.05).Conclusions Spicy diet,having a full bladder habit and excessive abstinence are the risk factors contributed to CP/CPPS.Longer flying time makes the symptoms worse.In addition to drug therapy,directing to healthy habits can help pilots' recovery. Key words: Prostatitis;  Pelvic pain;  Syndrome;  Prevalence