Travelers who spend a lot of time in cars or in plane seats have almost a triple risk of developing a life threatening blood clot according to Dr. Divay Chandra and other Harvard University colleagues who recently studied venous thromboembolism.
Venous thromboembolism, blood clots in a vein typically found in the legs, can result in strokes or heart attacks when found in arteries but are most dangerous when they travel to the lung causing a person to aspirate and die.
While the risk was found to be heightened, the risk is not significant cause to hand out anti-clotting drugs to plane passengers on a regular basis.
The research was based on 14 previous studies that contained about 4,000 patients that met their specific guidelines. The study found that there is a clear cut connection between travel and the development of blood clots especially among pregnant women, obese people, and women on birth control pills.
According to the report which was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the risk factor is about one case out of every 4,600 airline trips.
The researchers noted that drinking plenty of fluids and moving every two hours when possible can help decrease the risks of blood clotting while traveling.
