SYDNEY Doctors from Australia and New Zealand dismissed the concept of "economy class syndrome", but called for a major study to determine whether there was any link between air travel and blood clots. The Australasian Society of Thrombosis & Hemostasis said the risk of fatal deep vein thrombosis (DVT) during air travel had been vasely overstated, adding that blood clots could just as easily occur on long haul bus trips or drives. "The degree of risk has been overstated, vastly overstated," society president Dr. Ross Baker said after attending a meeting of Australian airline officials, unions and medical specialists. "The medical risk at best estimates is very low," Baker said. Scientists at Griffith University's Aviation Medicine Center, who also attended the Sydney DVT meeting, went further. "Economy class syndrome does not exist," said the center's Bates. Neither Qantas or Ansett officials at the Sydney meeting attended the news conference and neither airline would comment. Baker refused to say whether the airlines had been asked to fund a study or whether they had made any commitment to one. Eighteen airline passengers in Australia have died since 1992 from blood clots, an Australian newspaper said on Monday quoting coroner reports. Most of the deaths were after long haul flights to Australia, but one was after a two hour flight. Melbourne-based law firm Slater & Gordon has received details of almost 2,300 alleged DVT cases, including 116 possible deaths. It says some cases date back to the late 1980s but about half occurred in the past two years. It has signed up hundreds of potential clients keen to sue 20 international airlines.

High Rate of Blood Clots in Australia Global calls for safeguards against DVT arose last October following the death of 28-year-old Briton Emma Christoffersen, who collapsed in the arrival hall of London's Heathrow Airport after returning from Australia following the Olympic games. Airlines have rejected any link between cramped air travel and DVT, but have begun giving passenger advice in in-flight videos and magazines and on their Websites. Airlines advise that mild exercise can help prevent blood clots. The World Health Organization will hold a meeting on the issue next month. There are about 20,000 cases of DVT in Australia each year, but doctors said only three to seven percent of those admitted to hospital had been travel related. Baker said air travelers with only one risk factor, such as obesity or previous thrombosis, faced a one in two million chance of developing DVT. For those with multiple risk factors it was one in 100,000. "The background rate is still significant," said Baker. "There are still people who have suddenly developed DVT without any precipitating factors and whether air travel has anything to do with it is open to study," he said. "We are all worried whether our sister, brother, mother, father or children traveling on long haul flights, which happen commonly in Australia, will be struck down with this disease. A major study will determine what risk they face." "But it is not only air travel, it could be bus travel with a long haul situation of immobility," he said, adding immobility during long haul driving also posed a risk. Baker said two of the most famous DVT sufferers were U.S. vice-presidents Richard Nixon and Dan Quayle. "I don't think they were flying economy class on air force one," he said.

(Reuter)