Air travel and cardiovascular events
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H Mirzababaiy * , A Eskandari , M Samadpoor , K Alizadeh |
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Abstract: (14448 Views) |
Annudly 2 billion passengers undertake international and domestic
air travel. Cardiac events account for the greatest percentage of
flight diversions and appear to represent the major cause of in-flight
death. Patients with cardiovascular disease can be more sensitive
to changes in arterial oxygen saturation. The net effect of such
pressure changes is in decreasing arterial oxygen tension which
could provoke ischemia and arrhythmia in those most susceptible.
As a result, before flight, oxygen bags must be considered for such
passengers. Several studies have demonstrated increased and
mean pulmonary arterial pressure at high altitudes could be due to
sympathetic activity and hypoxia. The increase in pulmonary artery
pressure suggest that travelers with depressed ejection fractions
might suffer from increased symptoms of right or left sided heart
failure during air travel. Dehydration has been a major concern with
long haul air travel. Theoretically, dehydration could be expected to
contribute to the deleterious effect of air travel on cardiac patients
by effectively decreasing preload and therefore cardiac output in
patients with pacemakers and ICDs that are adjusted externally via
a wireless communication link, magnets producing a strong enough
field that inhibit tachycardia therapy when placed on top of almost
all ICD models.
Pulmonary embolism (PE) has been suggested as a culprit in
deaths related to air travel. Risk of symptomless calf DVT is high in
subjects over 50 years of age on flights longer than 8 h.
The role of aspirin therapy in the prevention of VTE has been a
subject of considerable debate.
Compression stocking appear to represent a reasonable measure in
all travelers over the age of 50 years who fly for more than 8 h or
further than 5000 Km. The current generation of pacemakers and
ICDs would allow easy access to data regarding in flight arrhythmia
and might help to further elucidate the impact of altitude on the
occurrence of ventricular and atrial arrhythmias. |
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Keywords: Air travel, Cardiovascular diseases, Deep vein thrombosis |
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Full-Text [PDF 410 kb]
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Type of Study: Original |
Received: 2012/03/7 | Accepted: 2014/06/3 | Published: 2014/06/3
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