One in one hundred long-haul fliers could
develop blood clots, and wearing compression stockings, taking
aspirin and traveling business class may not help.
New Zealand researchers tested almost 900
passengers who took long-haul flights over a six-week period.
The subjects traveled for at least 10 hours a flight and each
flew an average of 39 hours over the course of the study.
They discovered nine cases: four of
pulmonary embolism and five of deep vein thrombosis (DVT),
which involves the formation of blood clots which can cause
death if they invade the lungs or brain.
Seventeen percent of the passengers in the
study by the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand wore
compression stockings to aid circulation. Thirty-one percent
took aspirin to thin the blood and reduce the risk of
thrombosis.
The team, whose report was carried in The
Lancet medical journal, said all air travelers were at risk,
not just those in economy class.
"As a result, our findings lend support to
the recommendation that the term 'economy class syndrome'
should be avoided with the disorder renamed 'traveler's
thrombosis."'
The New Zealand team concluded that their
findings may err on the side of conservative estimates.
During recent court action, victims have
blamed cramped aircraft cabins for their blood clots and
argued that airlines have known of the risks for years but
failed to warn people.
But a British court agreed with the
airlines, which claimed that DVT was not an accident under the
1929 Warsaw Convention that governs international air travel.
DVT made international headlines and
airlines came under pressure to do more to prevent the
condition after a 28-year-old British woman died from the
condition about three years ago after a 20-hour flight from
Australia to London.
