How to Avoid Fatal Blood Clots (Economy Class Syndrome) in Long Flights

Information an Air Traveler Needs to Know About Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism

While the risk is considerably low, even healthy people can be at risk in developing blood clots when traveling by air, especially during long, intercontinental flights. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 1 in 4,500 travelers may develop a blood clot. And so, it is important for a traveler to always drink enough liquids and move around every once in a while even in a cramp place such as an airplane.

"Deep vein thrombosis" involves the formation of blood clots, typically in the leg or the thigh, due to prolonged sitting and inactivity. Low humidity and low fluid intake are also associated with it during air travel. While labeled the "economy class syndrome" due to the cramped seats in an airplane's economy class, it can also affect first class passengers, even those riding a car, bus, or train for very long periods. Due to lesser movements in such narrow spaces, such conditions may cause blood circulation to decrease. This can possibly result to the formation of blood clots. The fatality of these blood clots happen when they break loose in the blood stream and reach the lungs. In such case, the sudden death is caused by "pulmonary embolism."

It only takes simple and practical things to do and not do to avoid getting deep vein thrombosis during long-haul air travel.

Medical Explanation

Sitting still thousands of feet in an airplane with very low humidity doesn't make a person very thirsty. It is even possible to drink very little and not needing to go to the bathroom in an eight-hour flight. According to Donald Daniel's research on his article at the Waltzballs.org website, the body responds to the high altitude when traveling in a plane by increasing the level of clotting factors in the blood. This results to an unusually high degree of dehydration due to the environment and the immobility of a person can cause a blood clot in a vein, particularly in the thigh area. It can take a few days before the clot can break loose and circulate through the blood stream. This can cause a suddenly fatal pulmonary embolism even for considerably healthy individuals.