U.S. Army Aviation Life Support Equipment Retrieval Program: Head and Neck Injury Among Night Vision Goggle Users in Rotary-Wing Mishaps.

Abstract : The relationship between night vision goggle (NVG) use in the U.S. Army and head/neck injury risk is unknown. A 10-year retrospective study of traumatic head/neck injuries among U.S. Army aircrew members wearing NVGs in rotary-wing mishaps was conducted by review of U.S. Army Safety Center and U.S. Army Aviation Epidemiology Data Register records. Among 704 cockpit aircrew members, 403 (57.2 percent) suffered some degree of injury during the mishap. Among the 403 injured crewmembers, 250 (62.0 percent) had head and/or neck injuries. A disproportionate number of cockpit aircrew members in nonsurvivable mishaps had head and/or neck injuries (87.0 percent) compared to those in survivable mishaps (19 percent). Crewmembers wearing NVGs had a significantly increased risk for head and/or neck, head only, and neck only injury. When stratified by type of NVG, and based on logistic regression models that included aircraft type (UH-60 versus other) and survivability as covariates, crewmembers wearing the AN/PVS-5 carried the burden of this injury risk (RR=2.01, Ci95-1.58.57). For crewmembers wearing the aviator's night vision imaging system (ANVIS), the risk of head and/or neck, head only, or neck only injury was not statistically greater than crewmembers not wearing NVGs (RR=l.22, c195=O.94,l.58). Aircrew wearing the older AN/PVS-5 were at increased risk for head/neck injury during a rotary-wing mishap, while ANVIS users with the ANVIS break-away feature were not at increased risk for head/neck injury.