Where’s the Best Place to Sit on a Plane to Avoid Blood Clots?
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Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(NORTHBROOK, Ill.) — When it comes to health risks on long flights, it’s not what you pay for your seat, but where you sit that makes the difference.
New medical recommendations dispel the myth of “economy class syndrome,” the notion that cramped leg room in the cheap seats on long flights can lead to deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or blood clots in the legs. The clots can travel through the bloodstream to block blood flow to the lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism, deadly in as many as 30 percent of sufferers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Sitting in roomier first class seats won’t lower the risk of developing DVT, but sitting in an aisle seat will, according to the American College of Chest Physicians.
In the new guidelines published Tuesday in the journal Chest, doctors list sitting in a window seat as a risk factor for DVT.
“Traveling in economy class does not increase your risk for developing a blood clot, even during long-distance travel; however, remaining immobile for long periods of time will,” said Dr. Mark Crowther, one of the authors of the guidelines, in a statement. “Long-distance travelers sitting in a window seat tend to have limited mobility, which increases their risk for DVT.”
Advanced age, pregnancy, use of oral contraception and other forms of estrogen, recent surgery and obesity can also increase the risk of developing DVT during air travel, according to the guidelines. Still, there’s no evidence that dehydration or alcohol intake will cause clots to form.
Crowther emphasized that passengers rarely develop symptomatic DVT on airplanes, and those who do are usually on flights of eight to 10 hours and have at least one additional risk factor.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio