Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Health officials in the UK have issued revised guidelines governing when pregnant women should (and should not) fly on an airplane, whether or not they should wear a seatbelt, and how they can reduce the risk of traveling by air while carrying a child.
The revised guidelines, issued Friday by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG), report that the safest time for women to fly during pregnancy is before 37 weeks for women carrying one baby, or 32 weeks for those carrying twins.
After 37 weeks of pregnancy, a woman could go into labor at any time, the RCOG said. Most companies do not allow women to fly beyond this point in the pregnancy, and that women who do so should check with airlines and may have difficulty obtaining travel insurance.
According to BBC News, officials at the Royal College said that flying is not harmful during a low-risk pregnancy, but warned that there may be side-effects. Women who are over 28 weeks pregnant should take a doctor’s note and her medical records with her, they added.
“Although everyone who flies is exposed to a slight increase in radiation, there is no evidence that flying causes miscarriage, early labor or a woman’s waters to break,” the British news outlet reported. “The changes in air pressure and the decrease in humidity on an aircraft have not been shown to have a harmful effect on pregnancy either.”
Previous guidelines
Previously, the advice given to women with multiple pregnancies was that the safest time to fly was prior to 34 weeks, but this has been changed to 32 weeks to match up with recommendations issues by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The new guidelines also provides new advice regarding the potential side-effects of flying while carrying a child. Those side effects include fluid build-up in the legs that results in swelling, nose and ear problems due to air pressure changes, and worsened nausea due to motion sickness.
Flights of more than four hours can increase the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which is when a blood clot forms in the leg or pelvis, and pregnancy further ups this risk, according to the BBC. The RCOG recommends that women wear loose clothing and comfortable footwear, take regular walks around the plane, and do exercises in their seats every half-hour.
Furthermore, the organization encourages women to drink cups of water at regular intervals during their flights, to reduce consumption of drinking that contain either alcohol or caffeine, and to consider wearing graduated elastic compression stockings to further reduce the risk of DVT.
“If you have other risk factors for a DVT, regardless of the length of your flight, you may be advised to have heparin injections. These will thin your blood and help prevent a DVT,” the RCOG said. “A heparin injection should be taken on the day of the flight and daily for a few days afterwards. For security reasons, you will need a letter from your doctor to enable you to carry these injections onto the plane.”
Women who are at increased risk of going into labor before their due date, those with severe anemia (lower-than-normal red blood cells) or sickle-cell disease, those who recently experienced significant vaginal bleeding, and those who have serious conditions affecting their lungs or heart that makes difficult to breathe may be advised not to fly, the agency said.
“To help decide whether or not to fly, women should think about how many weeks pregnant they will be, what facilities are available at their destination and whether it will increase their risk of medical problems,” Philippa Marsden, chairwoman of the RCOG’s patient information committee, told BBC News. “It is important to discuss any health issues or pregnancy complications with your midwife or doctor before you fly.”
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