Deep vein thrombosis may be harmless and will often disappear without symptoms, but in some cases the blood clots come free from blood vessels in the legs and eventually lodge in the brain, heart or lungs, causing problems ranging from breathlessness and chest pain to heart attack, stroke or death.
Researchers examined the travel records of 8755 people who frequently traveled as part of their work for large companies or organizations within a 4.4-year period. They also questioned the participants about various potential risk factors, as well as occurrences of deep vein thrombosis.
The greatest risk factor was taking a long-haul flight, with 22 of the 53 observance cases occurring within eight weeks of such a trip. The researchers estimated that one blood clot occurs for every 4656 long-haul flights taken, a rate three times higher than that for shorter flights.
Equally risky was being on a birth control pill, but even women who were not on the pill are still twice as likely as men to develop deep vein thrombosis. Overweight passengers likewise had twice the risk, while people taller than six feet were 2.5 times more likely to develop blood clots than those shorter than five feet 5 inches.
Nevertheless, lead researcher Frits Rosendaal said the risks of deep vein thrombosis are not severe enough that long-haul passengers should feel the need to take blood-thinning medications. "The results of our study do not justify the use of potentially dangerous prophylaxis [treatment to prevent disease] such as anticoagulant therapy for all long haul air travelers, since this may do more harm than good," he said.
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Geez! 3 1/2 hour flight is a cake walk compared to the flight my wife, son and i just took in march. we went to mindanao, philippines and it took 17 hours to get there. thats 2 planes by the way. when i read your post i was shocked to say the least since i am not in the best of health after having heart surgery in 2004 at the age of 45. anyways, thankfully we dont do this every year but still its good to know this.
ReplyDeleteHi Robin- Good post...and timely, my husband just left this morning for a flight to CO from PA and it will take him about 5 hours.
ReplyDeleteI am wondering if the same thing occurs with long car rides...I know I need to get out of the car and walk regularly if I am on a long drive...sometimes if I am sitting for a few hours in a car and go to stand up, my legs feel like jelly.