Brain Performance Capacity among a Sample of Aviation Crews: A Cross-sectional Survey and Pilot Study

Abstract Background: To assess brain performance capacity (BPC) in relation to sleep quality, fatigue, and mental workload as evaluation indicators with explore the possible correlation with COVID-19. Methods: A cluster sampling method was adopted to randomly select 259 civil air crew members. The measurement of sleep quality, fatigue and mental workload (MWL) were assessed using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) and NASA Task Load Index. The impact of COVID-19 included 7 dimensions scored on a Likert scale. Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) was conducted to examine the relationship between BPC and COVID-19. Results: A total of 259 air crew members participated in the survey. Participants’ average PSQI score was 7.8 (SD = 3.8), with 49.8% reporting prevalence of insomnia, mostly of a minor degree. Participants’ MFI was an average was 56.1 (SD =10.0), with 100% reporting some incidence of fatigue, mainly severe. The weighted mental workload (MWL) score was an average of 43.1 (SD = 17.5), with reports of mostly a mid-level degree. There was a significant relationship between BPC and COVID-19, with a canonical correlation coefficient of 0.507 ( P <0.001), an eigenvalue of 0.4 and a contribution rate of 69.1%. All components of BPC variable set: PSQI, MFI and MWL contributed greatly to BPC, with an absolute canonical loading of 0.8, 0.6 and 0.7, respectively; the same was true for the COVID-19 variable set, with absolute canonical loadings ranging from 0.6 to 0.95. Conclusion: CCA demonstrated that sleep, fatigue and mental workload could well evaluated BPC, and there was a medium correlation between BPC and the impact of COVID-19 in civil air crews. Trial registration: This study is registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, number ChiCTR2100053133.