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DVT threat challenged by study
Passengers cramped in economy-class class cabins are no more likely to develop potentially fatal blood clots than business-class travellers, says a new South African study.
And the incidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) related to flying is much lower than previously thought, says the research, quoted in the Financial Times.
Controversially, the study says preventive measures recommended on long-haul flights, including increasing fluid intake, avoiding alcohol and exercising, have no bearing on the formation of dangerous blood clots.
Believed to be the largest of its kind to date, the study was conducted last year on 899 volunteers travelling on Johannesburg to London flights. It’s sponsors included South African Airways and drugs company Aventis, but it has passed a peer review and was published in the South African Medical on Saturday.
Previous smaller studies showed an incidence of DVT deaths as high as 5-10 per cent, but none of the passengers in this latest study developed a proven case of DVT, and taking exercise or non-alcoholic drinks had no effect on levels of D-dimer, a protein that can be a marker of small blood clots.
“The airlines and the medical profession will have to rethink the way they address this issue to prevent injury and deaths,” said Prof Barry Jacobson, head of the University of the Witwatersrand’s Surgical Research unit, who led the study.
The report’s findings of lower-than-expected incidence of DVT will be welcomed by the 18 airlines currently involved in litigation with relatives of passengers who died after developing blood clots on long-haul flights. An appeal court hearing went against the relatives last Thursday, but they vowed to take their case to the House of Lords.
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