Are pulmonologists well aware of planning safe air travel for patients with COPD? The SAFCOP study

Abstract

Background: Patients with respiratory diseases are more prone to health risks of air travel.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the current knowledge and attitudes of Turkish pulmonary physicians for air travel in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Participants and methods: A questionnaire was developed and administered either by congress mobile phone application or by e-mail. A total of 242 physicians participated in the study (75 by mobile phone application and 167 through the e-mail).

Results: Among participants, only 30.6% reported that they usually inform COPD patients about possible risks of air travel in their routine practice. A preflight assessment was performed by 61.2% of them and a fit to fly report was prepared by 34.3%. The most common methods/tests used for preflight assessment were reported as oxygen saturation with pulse oximetry, arterial blood gas analysis, and pulmonary function tests (51.2%, 50.8%, and 49.6%, respectively). When the participants were asked to plan safe air travel in two clinical case scenarios, only 16.2% were able to answer both cases correctly.

Conclusion: This study shows that a standard approach for preflight assessment in patients with COPD is lacking and an active initiative is needed to increase awareness and education for fit to fly concept for COPD among pulmonologists.

Keywords: air travel; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; hypoxemia; preflight assessment; pulmonologist.

Figure 1

Distribution of tests used for preflight evaluation. Note: Other methods were predictive equations and exercise tests. Abbreviations: 6MWT, 6 min walk test; ABG, arterial blood gas ; K_CO, transfer coefficient for carbon monoxide; PFT, pulmonary function tests; SaO2, oxygen saturation with pulse oximetry.