NARITA, Chiba Pref. (Kyodo) Economy class syndrome has claimed the lives of 30 travelers arriving at Narita airport over the past 15 years, while 116 others have suffered serious symptoms, a clinic operating at the airport said Tuesday.
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| Fly right: A store clerk at Narita airport shows goods Tuesday to help prevent economy class syndrome. KYODO PHOTO |
There have been no deaths reported in the last five years. The last fatality was a 28-year-old male teacher from Yokohama who died after returning from Canada in February 2003. The condition, also known as deep-vein thrombosis, causes blood clots
in people sitting in the same position for long periods.
The clinic, run by Nippon Medical School, compiled the figures after reviewing the symptoms of about 230,000 people who underwent treatment there from December 1992, when the clinic opened, to last March.
Toshiro Makino, head of the clinic, said he thinks growing awareness among travelers is the reason there have been no fatal cases in the past five years. But he called on summer travelers going overseas to exercise caution.
"It is preventable with light exercise inside the plane, like moving one's feet, but even young people are susceptible if they are careless," he said.
The average age of people who developed the syndrome was 57.
The average flight time was 11 hours and the average flight distance was about 9,000 km. The number of cases increased sharply once flight distances reached around 10,000 km.
The number of patients was relatively low on flights within Asia and greater for those on longer distance flights, such as from Europe and the U.S.
The clinic said seven Japanese men and 14 women, and seven foreign men and two women, died of the syndrome.
It said 23 Japanese men and 59 women, and 19 foreign men and 15 women, developed serious symptoms.
About 200 people develop minor symptoms every year.
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