[Coach-class thrombosis--a potential risk for long distance-travelers]

Prolonged non-stop flights imply the hazard of thromboses in the deep veins of the leg. Since more than a billion passengers each year travel by air, the economy class syndrome (coach class thrombosis) has become a rather frequent complication among travellers. For various reasons it is difficult to investigate the economy class syndrome in a methodological way. Therefore, we approached the subject of travellers' thrombosis by using standardised questionnaires and, using this method, we reviewed 121 patients with traveller's thromboses and its complications (50 males, 71 females, mean age 55 years). Seventy-seven patients of this sample suffered from deep venous thromboses, 39 suffered from pulmonary embolism as a consequence of manifest thromboses and 4 were found to have "isolated" pulmonary embolism. The journeys had a mean duration of 12 hours and the first symptoms were observed 3.1 days after the migration. Specific risk factors for thrombosis were identified in no more than 41 patients. Based on our data, a Consensus Conference on travellers' thrombosis was held in 1995, in which the diagnosis, prophylaxis and treatment of deep vein thrombosis associated with migration were investigated and established.