Office workers who spend long hours at their desk may be more
prone to potentially fatal blood clots than passengers on long-haul
flights, according to research cited Monday.
A study by Professor Richard Beasley of the Medical Research
Institute in Wellington found that a third of patients admitted to
hospital with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) were office workers who
spent long periods at a computer.
A total of 34 percent of the sample of 62 people admitted with
blood clots had been seated at their desks for long periods,
compared with 21 percent of patients who had recently traveled on
long-distance flights, the New Zealand Herald newspaper
reported.
DVT is the formation of a blood clot in a deep vein, most
commonly in the legs. The clots can travel to the heart, lungs or
brain, causing chest pain, breathlessness or possible death from a
heart attack or stroke.
The condition has been dubbed "economy class syndrome" because
passengers sitting on long-haul flights without space to stretch
out were considered as most at risk.
Studies found clots formed in 10 percent of air travelers at
high risk of the condition and one percent of all passengers.
Treatment is through blood thinning drugs which can take
months.
Beasley said some office workers who developed clots sat at
their screens for 14 hours a day.
"Some of them were going three to four hours at a time without
getting up," he said.
The problem was most common in the information technology
industry and in call-centers, he added.
The study is to be presented later this month at the annual
conference of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand,
and will also be published in the New Zealand Medical
Journal.
(China Daily via AFP March 13, 2007)
