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Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is a cardiovascular condition that results in an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), and which is caused by the upper chambers of the heart failing to move blood into its lower ventricles properly.

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More Air Travelers Survive Cardiac Arrest

Approximately five billion people worldwide travel by commercial flights yearly. A September 2021 study estimated that 350 air travel-related out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) occur each year in the United States alone. Internationally, the number rises to 2,000. About a quarter happen on‐board. A 2004 law passed by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandates that all local commercial airlines be equipped with automated external defibrillators (AEDs). An AED is a compact portable device that helps restore the normal heart rhythm of a person with cardiac arrest by sending an electric shock through the chest. More than 15 years later, information on the incidence rate, resuscitation care, and the outcome of air travel-related cardiac arrests, as well as the overall impact of the legislation, is still scarce. The study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association tried to correct this. The study was conducted by a group of researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle under the leadership of Dr. Neal Chatterjee, a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist. The team analyzed data from January 2004 to December 2019 from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on all adult passengers who received emergency medical service (EMS) care for cardiac arrest. In a cardiac arrest, a person’s heart rhythm is suddenly disrupted by an electrical malfunction. The malfunction could result from either heart-related or non-heart-related issues. Among the former are heart attacks, cardiomyopathy (thickened heart muscle), and different kinds of arrhythmia. The researchers registered a total of 143 pre-EMS arrival OHCAs for the designated period. Thirty-four, or 24 percent, occurred on the plane, while 109, or 76 percent, happened on the ground. The majority of the cardiac arrests, 81 percent, were triggered by heart-related issues. Also, 74 percent of the on-plane OHCAs and 89 percent of the off-plane were bystander‐witnessed. The survival rate of the people off the plane, 68 percent, was higher than that of the people on the plane, 44 percent. Further, the discrepancy nearly tripled in the rate of survival to hospital discharge, namely 44 percent versus 15 percent. Dr. Chatterjee, who also serves as an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington, pointed out that even the lower 15 percent still surpasses the US average OHCA survival rate of less than 11 percent. He added that all people who survived on-plane cardiac arrests were treated with an AED, which reinforced the importance of the devices and CPR. According to the study’s lead author, the results also point to the significance of training bystanders in CPR and the need for coordinated actions of airlines and federal agencies to provide cabin crew and airport personnel with education on cardiac arrest and AEDs. Dr. Benjamin Abella, professor of emergency medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the university’s Center for Resuscitation Science, welcomed the results but noted their non-exhaustiveness due to the small cohort. He also expressed interest in future research of other unexplored areas, such as train travel, characterized by an even broader population.