Date: 1-10-01
SCIENCE REPORT - Travelers' Blood Clots
By Nancy SteinbachThis is the VOA Special English Science Report.
Medical experts are concerned that travelers may develop blood clots in the legs after a long trip.
Clots develop in the legs when blood cannot move easily back to the heart. Some blood changes from a liquid into a solid. These clots block the flow of blood. Doctors say clots form when a person sits too long, usually with the back of the knees against a seat.
Blood clots can kill if they move to the heart and lungs. Recently, a young woman in Britain died of a blood clot following an airplane flight from Australia. Since then, other British victims have been found. And experts in Japan say more than one-hundred passengers arriving on long distance flights are treated each year for the problem.
Most experts believe blood clots are linked to travel in airplanes, trains, buses and cars. They say some people have an increased chance of developing clots. They include people who have had them in the past and women taking birth control pills. People who have cancer or those who have had a recent operation also are at risk of developing clots.
Doctors in Nice, France, studied this possible link. They reported their results last year in the publication Chest. They examined one-hundred-sixty people with blood clots over a three year period. They also examined one-hundred-sixty people who did not have them. They found people who had clots were almost four times more likely to have traveled recently.
However, a study published in the British publication Lancet last year found the opposite. Researchers at the University of Amsterdam studied seven-hundred-eighty-eight people. They found no link between blood clots developing in people and recent travel.
Doctors and travel experts say to be safe, people making long trips should increase blood flow in their legs. Their advice includes taking an aspirin a few hours before a trip to thin the blood. They also say to wear loose clothing, stockings and shoes. Drink water. Do not press the knees against the seat. Walk around, or move the feet and legs every two hours. People at high risk for clots should get special stockings that can prevent blood from gathering in the legs. Experts say anyone who experiences pain in the legs during or after a long trip should be examined by a doctor.
This VOA Special English Science Report was written by Nancy Steinbach.
Source: www.voa.gov/special/