dickdiamond.com

Air Travel Really Is Bad for You

Setting aside crashing and bird flu (and everything else you can catch from being sealed inside an aluminum can with 200 people breathing recycled air for 5 hours), now there's an even more frightening (and statistically more likely) danger: deep venous thrombosis. Basically blood clots that can do anything from give you cramps to kill you. And who is "particularly" susceptible? Let's see, first there's anyone in good physical shape, because slower resting pulse rate actually increases the likelihood of a clot. And then there's anyone with heart disease, diabetes, obesity or a recent injury. Wow, good to know only the healthy and unhealthy are at risk. And if this occurs in 3-5% of passengers, wouldn't that mean somewhere between 5 and 10 people on every flight are experiencing this? I don't like them odds.

posted by Rich @ 10/22/2005 10:51:00 AM