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Concern about travel-related venous thromboembolism (VTE) has recently attracted public attention. To examine the risk for VTE in travelers, these investigators conducted a literature analysis of 14 studies (2 cohort, 11 case-control, and 1 case-crossover) with a total of 4055 cases of VTE. The mode of travel in the studies varied (5 air only, 9 air or surface), and the outcomes evaluated were deep venous thrombosis alone in seven, pulmonary embolism (PE) or DVT in five, and PE alone in two.
Compared with nontravelers, the pooled relative risk for VTE in travelers across all studies was 2.0 (P<0.001). However, significant heterogeneity resulted from differences in study design — specifically, in the selection criteria for controls. No eviden…