The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7382 p4
7 January 2006

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Clot risk the same for all modes of transport

Travelling for more than four hours in any form of transport increases the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), a series of studies funded by the Department of Health, the Department of Transport and the European Commission has shown.

One of the studies collected data from patients presenting to anticoagulation clinics in the Netherlands with a first VTE. The patients’ partners were used as matched controls. Of 1,851 patients studied, 235 had travelled for more than four hours in the eight weeks preceding the VTE. The risk of VTE from flying was similar to that from travelling by car, train or bus.

“As previously suspected, it is clear from the epidemiological studies that seated immobility is a risk factor for VTE,” the authors conclude. “These studies confirm that the longer the period of travel, the greater the risk. Multiple flights in a short period probably reflect the same phenomenon,” they add.