Pregnant women should be cautious about flying because changes in pressure and humidity levels that take place within aircraft can trigger a premature birth or miscarriage, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said.
The warning was given after a Taiwanese woman gave birth on a Los Angeles-bound plane earlier this month.
Local media outlets reported that the woman had concealed that she was 36 weeks pregnant and intentionally took the flight late in her pregnancy hoping to give birth in the US.
However, about six hours into the flight, the woman said her water had broken, and about 30 minutes before the plane landed at Ted Stevens Anchorage Airport — to which the flight had been diverted — the woman delivered the baby, with the assistance of a doctor and cabin crew.
The HPA said that because of lower humidity levels on aircraft, passengers always run the risk of deep-vein thrombosis, but changes in progesterone and the varicose veins from which pregnant women often suffer put them at a higher risk.
In addition, because the air pressure in aircraft at cruising altitude is lower than the air pressure at sea level, it can lead to an increased heart rate, rise in blood pressure and severe anemia, which are all potentially dangerous for pregnant women, the agency said.
The exhaustion of long-haul flights can also put pregnant women at higher risk from premature births or miscarriages, it said.
The HPA said all women in their third trimester of pregnancy — from 29 weeks through 40 weeks — should avoid flying, and physicians said that pregnant women with thalassemia, iron-deficiency anemia or sickle-cell anemia should not take flights from their second trimester, to avoid hematuria, renal vein thrombosis or even a miscarriage.
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