261963 A Healthy Population Overview: Baseline Characteristics of NASA Astronauts

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Peggy A. Lynn, MS, RN , Wyle, Houston, TX
Adriana Babiak-Vazquez, MA, MPH , Space Medicine, NASA Johnson Space Center, Wyle, Houston, TX
Sara Stroble Mason, BS , Space Medicine, NASA Johnson Space Center, Wyle, Houston, TX
Alan D. Moore, PhD , Wyle, Houston, TX
Lesley R. Lee, MS , Space Medicine, NASA Johnson Space Center, Wyle, Houston, TX
Mary L. Wear, PhD , Space Medicine, NASA Johnson Space Center, Wyle, Houston, TX
Mary Van Baalen, MS , Space Medicine, NASA, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
In 2010 NASA implemented a new occupational surveillance program for the U.S. astronaut corps, the Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health. This program represents a good source of information on a healthy population which can be used to further knowledge and aid in gathering of evidence-based practices. The corps can be divided into various programs: Mercury (n= 6), Gemini (n= 20), Apollo (n= 33), Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (n= 3), Skylab (n= 9), Shuttle (n=292), Shuttle-Mir (n= 7) and International Space Station (ISS) (n= 40 to date). Astronauts assigned to multiple program and multiple trips will be counted as separate individuals for this analyses. Though there are inherent risks in the day to day work of astronauts in space, active countermeasures are in place to reduce those risks. This report/presentation describes basic demographic and physiological characteristics from selection and pre-flight measures, and key indicators of countermeasure effectiveness. Grouped data presented will be based on cumulative population data including the variables age, gender, race, height, weight, percent body fat, educational level, military service/pilot and vital status. Also included are bone densitometry, aerobic exercise test data (e.g., Watts, blood pressure at 75% of maximum heart rate, estimated VO2 max) and other fitness measures such as isokinetic strength, functional fitness, and strength to weight ratio.

Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention
Epidemiology
Occupational health and safety

Learning Objectives:
1- To be able to identify types of data collected in the new surveillance program for the US astronaut corps, a unique healthy population. 2- To be able to more readily utilize interdisciplinary informatics to capture additional evidence-based practices to integrate into best clinical, preventive medicine and public health practice.

Keywords: Epidemiology, Surveillance

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the lead in one of the epidemiology groups at the NASA Johnson Space Center,focusing on our healthy astronaut population data and the prevention and countermeasure aspects, specifically. My scientific interests are in cancer and chronic disease prevention and control and its impact on community/population health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.