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Airmen most likely to faint under the needle

Feeling woozy after your latest round of immunization shots? Then you’re probably a male airman.

Ten years of records showed that 2,612 service members passed out cold — and fell down — after a nurse slowly inserted a thin half-inch of steel into their biceps or buttocks.

Data from the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center shows that the rate of airmen who fell out was twice that of soldiers and sailors — Marines fall in between — and that twice as many men as women were among the fainthearted. The overall numbers also are rising; today’s service members are 2½ times more likely to faint from getting a shot than they were in 1998.

Possibly worse than the risk of ridicule is the risk of injury, the report states, “particularly when collapse leads to forceful contact between the face or skull ... and a sharp or solid object nearby.” Researchers found 150 examples of fractures, brain injuries, open wounds, contusions, sprains and strains.

Fainting occurs when blood vessels dilate and blood pressure decreases among people who stand for too long, don’t like the sight of blood or fear pain, experts say.