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Onboard physicians respond to nearly half of medical emergencies on commercial flights

Physician-passengers provided medical assistance in nearly half of in-flight medical emergencies on commercial airlines during a 2-year period, according to recent data.

An analysis of 11,920 in-flight medical emergencies from January 2008 through October 2010 revealed that onboard physicians assisted in 48.1% of medical emergencies, with 7.3% of incidents requiring aircraft diversion.

Syncope or presyncope characterized 37.4% of cases, followed by respiratory symptoms (12.1%) and nausea or vomiting (9.5%). Post-flight data for 10,914 of the patients studied revealed that 25.8% were taken to a hospital, 8.6% were admitted and 0.3% died. Among the triggers for admission were possible stroke (OR=3.36; 95% CI, 1.88-6.03), respiratory symptoms (OR=2.13; 95% CI, 1.48-3.06) and cardiac symptoms (OR=1.95; 95% CI, 1.37-2.77).

The analysis, which covered 10% of global passengers during the study period, revealed a rate of one in-flight medical emergency per 604 flights.

“Medical emergencies during commercial airline travel, although rare when considered on a per-passenger basis, occur daily,” the researchers wrote. “A basic knowledge of in-flight medical emergencies and awareness of the resources available can help [physicians] be effective volunteers.”