Abstract:
INTRODUCTION : the purpose of this study was to report the temporary loss of medical license and pilot incapacitations in the United
Arab Emirates from 2018–2021.
METHOD : the General Civil Aviation Authority database was searched for all reported temporary suspensions of license between
2018–2021 and the ICD-10 codes were extracted.
RESULTS: a total of 1233 incapacitations was reported with a mean license suspension of 148.4 ± 276.8 d. the mean days of
suspension for the various medical specialties were 115.2 ± 188.4 for musculoskeletal conditions (N = 392), 189.3 ± 324.8
for medicine (N = 335), 101.6 ± 231.4 for surgery, 109.4 ± 223.5 for urology (N = 93), 90.3 ± 128.7 for ophthalmology
(N = 68), 385.6 ± 594.3 for psychiatry (N = 61), 150.4 + 285.9 for eNt (N = 59), 419.4 ± 382.6 for obstetrics and gynecology
(N = 30), and 44.9 + 39 for dermatology (N = 21). Permanent suspensions were as follows: total N = 100 (8.1%),
musculoskeletal N = 13 (3.3%), medicine N = 37 (11%), surgery N = 10 (5.7%), urology N = 10 (10.7%), ophthalmology
N = 2 (2.9%), psychiatry N = 20 (32.8%), ENt N = 1 (1.7%), obstetrics and gynecology N = 4 (13.1%), and dermatology
N = 3 (14.3%).
DISCUSSION : Musculoskeletal conditions are the most common reason for temporary loss of medical license followed by medical
and surgical conditions. the least common reason was dermatological conditions. the longest period of incapacitation
was associated with psychiatric conditions followed by medical and ENT conditions. the annual calculated temporary
incapacitation rate was 2.8% and the permanent suspension rate was 0.25%.
