Page 20 - May24

FEATURE
High BP and the FAA
by Dr. Jerrold Seckler
Ahealthy 35-year-old man, who is also a pilot, was found to have high blood pressure at a recent physical. He has no symptoms, and his blood pressure is now controlled with medication. How does the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) deal with this issue?
The FAA has a remarkably liberal standard for blood pressure. Anything <155/95 is acceptable for all classes of medical certificates. So even though you may be significantly hypertensive by medical standards, your pressure may still be acceptable to the FAA.
If your blood pressure during the FAA exam is above 155/95, the AME may ask you to return on at least three days during a one-week period to recheck the pressure. If all those pressures are <155/<95 the AME may issue your certificate with no further testing. If they are not, the AME can send you back to your regular doctor for initiation or change of anti-hypertension medications. After seven days on the new medications, if there are no side effects and the pressure comes down to acceptable levels, the AME can issue the certificate. It
» Figure 1: Blood pressure guidelines by category. (American Heart Association/American Stroke Association)
Your blood pressure measurement consists of two numbers – systolic and diastolic – expressed as a fraction e.g., 130/70. The higher number (systolic) represents the pressure in the artery as the heart contracts and the lower number (diastolic) is the pressure
as the heart relaxes. Over the last few years, the guidelines for what constitutes a normal blood pressure have changed. The current guidelines from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association are shown in Figure 1 (below).
18 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
MAY 2024