Recent air travel and venous thromboembolism resulting in hospital admission.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of the study was to determine the proportion of patients admitted to hospital with a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE) in whom recent air travel was documented in the medical records.


METHODS
A retrospective review of the medical records of patients with a primary or secondary discharge diagnosis of DVT or PE in four hospitals in New Zealand was undertaken. From the medical records information was collected on demographic details, documentation of the presence of risk factors and results of radiological investigations. Strict radiological criteria were applied to ensure that the diagnosis of DVT or PE was firmly established.


RESULTS
In 60 of 576 (10.4%) patients with a confirmed venous thromboembolism there was documentation of recent air travel; in 31 of these 60 subjects no other risk factors were recorded. In those cases in whom details of the air travel had been recorded, it had been undertaken in the previous 1 week in 65.0%, and in 43.3% the air travel was of at least 10-h duration.


CONCLUSIONS
Long distance air travel is an important risk factor for venous thromboembolism requiring hospital admission and represents a significant public health problem in New Zealand.
Hughes
Rodney
R
Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, Wellington.
Heuser
Trish
T
Hill
Sarah
S
Ryder-Lewis
Simon
S
Weatherall
Mark
M
Hopkins
Raewyn
R
Beasley
Richard
R
D000328:Adult; D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014195:Travel; D020246:Venous Thrombosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology