Aerospace Medicine Specialist Questions Aerospace Medicine Specialist

Does always flying cause blood clots?

I have read that flying can worsen blood clots. Does always flying cause blood clots?

1 Answer

AerospaceMedicineSpecialistAerospaceMedicineSpecialist
Although recent cross-country flights are a common screening question for pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis (two of the more common clinically significant blood clots), there’s little research to determine how much flying matters in the formation of clots. There’s only one study from 2007 that I’m aware of, titled The Absolute Risk of Venous Thrombosis
after Air Travel: A Cohort Study of 8,755 Employees of International Organizations by Kuipers et al.