Diseases leading to permanent disqualification in Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force non-pilot crew

Abstract Background Efficient personnel is the most important Armed Forces capital. Many studies have shown the relationship between health and performance. Understanding the factors leading to disability has preventive importance. This study was aimed to identify diseases leading to permanent disqualification of Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) non-pilot crew (NPC) to identify existing deficiencies and prevent personnel disqualification. Methods The study was designed as descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective research. Medical causes and diseases leading to early and permanent medical disqualification (EPMD) of IRIAF NPC from 1986 to 2016 were collected from their medical records and council files. Data were registered and sorted in predesigned electronic sheets for analysis by SPSS version 26. Results Of all the 155 cases with permanent disqualifications, 126 persons had medical disqualification, and others were killed or missed in actions. Flight engineers, navigators, and loadmasters had the most medical disqualification. The highest number of killed or missed persons in actions was for navigators, loadmasters, and crew chiefs. The main reasons for EPMD were psychiatric, cardiac, and neurologic, wherein common diseases included generalized anxiety disorder, myocardial infarction, and lumbar discopathy. The total lost service years were 1569 person-years. Its average was 12.45 person-years per individual with a standard deviation of ±2.4. Conclusion Due to the similarity in the work environment, we compared NPC results with similar studies in other flight crew. Nonetheless, the main causes and diseases leading to early EPMD of the flight crew were similar in different studies, but their orders and frequencies were different.