Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by azrael on Wednesday August 06 2014, @09:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the everyone-should-have-their-own-seat dept.

Researchers have analysed data on in-flight medical emergencies involving children and have discovered that most of the deaths involved children under 2 - who usually sit on a parents lap to travel (abstract).

The study was conducted in partnership with MedAire to characterize the rare event of an in-flight pediatric fatality onboard commercial airline flights worldwide. Through a detailed analysis of more than 7,000 reported medical emergencies involving children (newborn to age 18) over a three-year period, researchers found death most commonly occurred in previously healthy children under the age of 2, and in children with a preexisting medical condition.

"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," says Alexandre Rotta, MD, FCCM, Chief, Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at UH Rainbow and the studies' principal investigator. Dr. Rotta, who is also Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, says the pattern would have gone unnoticed through single case analysis of these relatively rare events.

The fatalities were identified by searching records of all in-flight medical emergencies for child passengers that were reported to MedAire, the world's busiest global emergency response center and the leading provider of ground-based medical support to commercial airlines worldwide. Of the 7,573 reported emergencies, 10 resulted in death, and six had no previous medical history. Four passengers had preflight medical conditions, including two children traveling for the purpose of accessing advanced medical care. Dr. Rotta speculates these infants were at increased risk from exposure to a hypoxic cabin environment, or by sharing a seat with an adult and co-sleeping during a long flight, but there could also be another yet unknown factor.

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 06 2014, @09:57AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 06 2014, @09:57AM (#77954)

    Who ever would have dreamed that a child travelling in a vehicle without safety restraints was at more risk than a child travelling in a vehicle with safety restraints?

    Ready the Nobel prizes!

    • (Score: 2) by jimshatt on Wednesday August 06 2014, @10:12AM

      by jimshatt (978) on Wednesday August 06 2014, @10:12AM (#77957) Journal
      There is nothing in TFA about safety restraints or the lack thereof. During landing and takeoff infants under 2 sitting in a parent's lap *does* have a seat belt that is connected to the parent's belt. This looks less safe, but there are hardly alternatives. On some flights there are a limited number of baby seats available, but that is actually quite rare.
      • (Score: 2) by jimshatt on Wednesday August 06 2014, @10:18AM

        by jimshatt (978) on Wednesday August 06 2014, @10:18AM (#77959) Journal
        I meant "do have a seat belt". Sorry.
      • (Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Wednesday August 06 2014, @12:07PM

        by Magic Oddball (3847) on Wednesday August 06 2014, @12:07PM (#77990) Journal

        Couldn't the parents bring a car seat on board, purchase a regular seat as they would for an older child, and strap the kid on just like they would if they were driving somewhere?

        (I don't have a kid, so I might be missing something... My knowledge of babies and flying is limited to having heard parents claim to use baby-safe forms of Gravol or Benadryl to keep their infant/toddler quiet.)

        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 06 2014, @01:12PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 06 2014, @01:12PM (#78010)

          Good question.

          Just some of my experiences:
          - On European flights our youngest one sits on my lap and has a seat belt which is linked up to my seat belt.
          - On my latest transatlantic flight (Delta) we asked for a seat belt for our youngest one and the flight attendant answered that they "don't do that because they consider it too dangerous". I am not sure if I agree with Delta Airlines here, but anyhow different airlines seem to use different approaches.
          - Children under 12 or so typically pay a bit less for a seat than adults. Having a child on the lap means one more seat available for the airlines that can be sold for full price. (and potentially it makes flying cheaper for families that have children, which also increases revenue for the airlines).
          - Airlines do not give parents the option to buy a full seat for very small children (less than 2 years). The really young ones simply cannot sit up and will roll from their chairs. Heck, I cannot even check in on-line when traveling with a child below 2 years of age as the systems don't allow for that.
          - Not all planes are big enough for car seats to be installed on the seat of an airplane. Sometimes when flying transatlantic and the flight is not fully booked we are allowed to bring the car seat on board. Added advantage is that our youngest one has a much better flight experience when having a seat to themselves as compared to sitting on my lap. (sleeps much better).

        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by efitton on Wednesday August 06 2014, @01:42PM

          by efitton (1077) on Wednesday August 06 2014, @01:42PM (#78018) Homepage

          They could and it would cost more. The risk of having a child on your lap, while statistically significant is still incredibly rare. That whole more dangerous getting the kid to the airport in a rear facing car seat, etc.

        • (Score: 4, Informative) by goodie on Wednesday August 06 2014, @02:34PM

          by goodie (1877) on Wednesday August 06 2014, @02:34PM (#78031) Journal

          Interesting question. I will share my own experience, for whatever that is worth.

          Last year, me and my wife did the tour back homes (both our birthplaces where our families still live) to visit our families and give them the opportunity to see our newborn (who was 7 months old at the time).

          We did not purchase my son a separate seat. However, we were travelling business class thanks to frequent flyer miles and had requested the bassinet that clips on the section separator. So we only paid taxes on this. This was with Air France and KLM (first from NA to Paris, them AMS to Central Asia, 2 x 7 hours each way and an 8 hours layover in Amsterdam). My son is very active and had just started to crawl. Thankfully the flights were at night so he did sleep for the majority of the time (ie when stewardesses weren't playing with lights or asking loudly if we wanted coffee). Our son was already too big for the bassinet so that was a miss, but he slept on the seat with me or my wife (good luck trying that on an economy seat...). All this went well, and during takeoffs and landings, both airlines gave us the additional buckle for the kid. My opinion is that it is not safe for the kid, but then again I am not sure that there is an actual viable solution other than having your own seat/car seat. What it does though is prevent your kid from becoming a cannon ball if there is a big impact and he slips off your hands, injuring or killing somebody else.

          Now, about 1 month before we left, my wife started to worry big time about this. Should he have his own seat? What if something happens etc? Are we idiots putting him in danger etc. My take on this is that if there is such a problem on the plane, we're all dead, car seat or not. And if it's turbulence, you can be damn sure I'll be holding on to him and won't let go. Bottom line is, I don't think this was unsafe. She said she wouldn't do like that again just because she worried so much.

          I point it out because there are countless places where people will call you a baby killer (just like formula over breast milk) if you don't buy the seat/car seat option. What they don't tell you is that some airlines won't take the car seat because they don't fit well on the economy seats which they have made smaller and smaller. the other thing is that on a day flight, good luck keeping a crawler in a car seat for 7 hours. Take him out once, until he falls asleep there is no way he's going back in without a fight and this is not something you want to share with 280 other people...

          When we came back, we had another trip about one month later where we took him to the west coast (5 hour flight in an A319 + another 2.5 hours in a Dash). This time my wife, because we had economy tickets, insisted we take the car seat. It was hit and miss with the kid but it was invaluable in terms of space and in terms of having a place to put the kid. It's hot as hell on a plane and having your kid on you does not help. So we were really happy we had purchased the seat and spared some poor soul having me and my wife try to entertain our kid and reach for the bag all the time. But I remember that the airline (AC) wasn't giving out extra buckles because they were too dangerous. So for those, it looks like Europe hands them out while NA does not :).

          So overall, it'd be interesting to see if that indeed is related to using car seats etc. My biased opinion sees this more as an issue of pressure changes, overheating (aggravated by being on the lap perhaps but not sure), dehydration etc. But I wouldn't go as far as saying that this means having a car seat should be mandatory. Airlines know this and they know young parents travel because kids don't pay and they want to visit family to show the kid. It's in their interest to keep it attractive for young parents. Impact-wise, car seat or not, chances of survival are very slim I think. But everything else considered, I do think that in economy, an extra seat is not so much of a luxury than a necessity. But not for safety reasons :).

          And yes, looking back, we wonder how we did it all that year ;)

    • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday August 06 2014, @11:12AM

      by wonkey_monkey (279) on Wednesday August 06 2014, @11:12AM (#77974) Homepage

      Who ever would have dreamed that an AC would fail to read a summary properly and just cut straight to being snarky and dismissive of a legitimate piece of scientific research just to make themselves feel clever?

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk