Airsickness Prevention in Helicopter Passengers: A Comparison of Four Countermeasures

摘要

Despite many existing treatments, airsickness remains an issue of concern in today's military. This study used a double-blind, between groups, placebo-controlled design to compare the effectiveness of four airsickness countermeasures: three pharmacological and one non-pharmacological. All flights were conducted in an actual UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. Sixty-four, male, non-aviator subjects (ages 18 to 34) were recruited from Fort Benning, Georgia. Sixteen subjects were randomly assigned to each of four groups: 1) promethazine (25 mg)-caffeine (200 mg), 2) meclizine (25 mg), 3) scopolamine (1.5 mg), and 4) ReliefBand. Each individual participated twice, once with the treatment and once with placebo. The finding indicate that only the combination of promethazine-caffeine produced a statistically significant reduction in nausea and motion sickness severity, and improvement in reaction time when compared to its placebo control and the other countermeasures. Data from this study indicated that of the countermeasures tested, promethazine-caffeine is the most effective at reducing airsickness with the least adverse side effects.