Air travel and respiratory disease

doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7374.1186

BMJ 2002;325:1186-1187 ( 23 November )

Editorials

Air travel and respiratory disease

Proper assessment and preparation reduce the risk, but it pays to shop around

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In spite of recent events, air passenger travel is increasing. Globally, over one billion people now fly each year, and theUnited Kingdom alone had over 180 million air traffic movementsin 2001.¹ The increasing availability of lower cost travelalso makes such journeys accessible to older or less financiallyadvantaged travellers. It has become common for people with lungdisease to wish to travel and in turn seek advice from their medicalpractitioners about the provision of oxygen and other issues.Surprisingly, reports of serious incidents concerning travellerswith lung disease are relatively rare, but a systematic investigationof this area has not yet been conducted. Since respiratory problemsare estimated to make up about 11% of in-flight emergencies itis reasonable to assume that the burden of risk surrounding theflight itself and later disruption of the journey is significant.²

Advice about the particular medical hazards of travel for . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

Mohr, L. C. (2008). The Hypoxia Altitude Simulation Test: An Increasingly Performed Test for the Evaluation of Patients Prior to Air Travel. Chest 133: 839-842 [Full text]