Air travel poses ‘no significant risk’
for pregnant women and their unborn babies – even up to three weeks
before the birth, doctors say.
Healthy mothers-to-be having pregnancies
without complications should be able to fly until the 37th week, their
latest advice reveals.
The most serious risk for women at
35,000ft is premature labour, say experts from the Royal College of
Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
Advice: Healthy mothers-to-be having pregnancies without complications should be able to fly until the 37th week
Expectant mothers need not fear medical
risks posed by full-body security scanners or a fall in oxygen pressure
during flights, and have no reason to worry about travel sickness and
deep vein thrombosis on longer flights if they take precautions.
Those who are at risk of early labour
because of factors such as a multiple birth should not fly from 32
weeks, says the college.
The new advice is similar to existing
recommendations from the International Air Travel Association and NHS
Choices. However, many airlines still bar women from boarding if they
are more than 36 weeks into a pregnancy.
Some carriers request a doctor’s letter at 28 weeks to confirm the expected date of delivery and lack of complications.
The latest advice said pregnant women
should pay attention to the risk of DVT, which occurs in cramped
conditions or during periods of long immobility.
Doctors say it is a ‘concern of most pregnant women’ and can be combated with graduated elastic compression stockings.
Takeoff:
Those who are at risk of early labour because of factors such as a
multiple birth should not fly from 32 weeks, say experts from the Royal
College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Body scanners, which use ionising
radiation for security checks, also pose no additional hazard to
pregnant women because of the low doses involved.
However, obstetricians need to watch for
medical conditions that may complicate the pregnancy and give rise to
problems during air travel, such as severe anaemia, recent haemorrhage,
serious cardiac or respiratory disease and recent bone fractures.
Professor Ian Greer, of the University
of Liverpool, who wrote the scientific paper producing the new advice,
said: ‘For uncomplicated pregnancies there is no reason to give advice
against commercial air travel, and specifically there is no issue with
travel in early pregnancy as the main consideration is risk of labour.
‘However if the woman has a history of
miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy it would be sensible to suggest
ultrasound prior to travel to confirm the location and viability of the
pregnancy.’
Amber Howard, of travel insurance
website Holidaysafe.co.uk, said many women can be left at the boarding
gate if airlines suspect they exceed the company’s limit on how close
they are to giving birth.
‘They can also deny boarding under
health and safety rules if they feel that a pregnant woman may not be
mobile enough to leave the aircraft in an emergency,’ she said.
