Lap Infants Suffer From Increased Risk of Death on Commercial Airline Flights

Lap infants face a higher risk of death on commercial airline flights, a new study reveals.

The researchers at the University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital evaluated the pediatric medical emergencies in flights worldwide, between January 2010 and June 2013, and found that nearly 90 percent of the children who died were under the age of 2 years.  

"The pattern we identified in our analysis is intriguing and could indicate lap infants are at greater risk of death related to in-flight environmental factors such as sleeping arrangements," said Alexandre Rotta, the studies' principal investigator. She also claims that the pattern would have gone unnoticed through single case analysis of these relatively rare events.

In this study, the researchers characterized the rare event of in-flight pediatric fatality on commercial airlines worldwide. The analysis was conducted on more than 7,000 medical emergencies that involved children (newborn to age 18) over a three-year period. They noticed that it was children under the age of 2 years who faced the greatest risk of death. Death was also common among children with preexisting medical conditions.

By searching records of all in-flight medical emergencies for child passengers reported to MedAire, the global emergency response center, they noticed that out of 7,573 emergencies 10 led to death and six had no medical history. Four patients were identified with pre-flight medical conditions, of whom two were traveling to seek advanced medical care. The researchers, however, speculate that these infants were at an increased risk of exposure to hypoxic cabin environment or were sharing a seat with adult and co-sleeping during a long flight.

Most of the pediatric in-flight emergencies were linked to infections, neurological conditions and respiratory issues like asthma.

"I hope our findings lead to further research on this important subject," said Dr. Rotta. "It is my belief the pattern we discovered should promote the development of preventative strategies and travel policies to protect the health of all pediatric airplane passengers, especially infants."

The study was published in the Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Journal.