Review of NASA’s Evidence Reports on Human Health Risks

NASA has asked the Institute of Medicine to provide independent reviews of more than 30 publicly available evidence reports on human health risks for long-duration and exploration space flight.  This letter report examines seven evidence reports on the risk of adverse health effects due to: alterations in host-microorganism interactions; altered immune response; inadequate human-computer interaction; inadequate design of human and automation/robotic integration; incompatible vehicle/habitat design; inadequate critical task design; and performance errors resulting from training deficiencies.

The report — the second in a series of five — examines the quality of evidence, analysis, and overall construction of each evidence report; identifies existing gaps in report content; and provides suggestions for additional sources of expert input.  The first IOM letter report, issued in 2013, evaluated three evidence reports on the risk of adverse health effects due to injury from dynamic loads, unpredicted effects of medication, and spaceflight-induced intracranial hypertension and visual alterations.

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Review of NASA’s Evidence Reports on Human Health Risks: 2014 Letter Report will be available to reporters only beginning at noon EST on Tuesday, Jan. 13.