Blood clots while flying not linked to where your seat is

New guidelines for air travelers concerned about blood clots offer a short list of those at highest risk of deadly leg clots and refute the notion that people flying economy class have a greater chance of experiencing the potentially deadly condition.

The guidelines from the American College of Chest Physicians, last updated in 2008, are being released today.

Anyone who has flown recently has heard the advice to stay hydrated, get up and move around the cabin and do leg exercises at one’s seat. That’s because sitting without moving for long periods of time can cause blood clots in the legs, known as deep vein thrombosis ( DVT).

The good news is that there’s almost no increase in risk for people flying shorthaul flights, says Mark Crowther, a hematologist who co- chaired the committee that updated guidelines.

Even for those flying for more than four hours, the risk of a clot is only about once every 4,600 trips. “So if you’re a completely healthy 42- year- old with no health concerns, your risk of getting a blood clot on a plane is very low,” he says.

The 2012 guidelines mention certain types of people who are at higher risk for blood clots during travel, including those who had recent surgery or a broken bone, people with active cancer, pregnant women or women on birth control pills, the elderly, those with limited mobility, the severely obese, or those who have had blood clots before.

For patients at high risk, “talk to your physician,” Crowther says. Blood thinners are a possibility as protection before a flight.

It’s not just in planes where clots are a risk, says Victoria Day of Airlines for America, an airline industry group. “The risk of developing a DVT during air travel is about the same as being seated for the same period of time at a desk, in a movie theater, on a bus or in a car.”

The guidelines’ statement that there’s nothing more clot- inducing in economy vs. business or first class seems disingenuous, says Kate Hanni, executive director of Flyersrights. org: “It’s simply easier to get up and move around in business and first class.”