Babies younger than 2 who sit on someone’s lap during an airline flight are at risk
of injury as are children in an aisle seat, according to a review of inflight medical
events over a five-year period.
In 2015, more than 3.4 billion people flew on commercial airlines worldwide, according
to the World Bank. Studies have detailed in-flight medical events involving adults,
but research on children is lacking.
This study described in-flight injuries that involved children ages 0-18 years. Data
were collected from the electronic records of all in-flight medical events reported
from 2009-’14 to a ground-based medical support center serving about one-third of
the commercial airline passenger traffic worldwide. The center is staffed by emergency
physicians at a U.S. Level I trauma center.
The center received 114,222 medical event calls during the study period of which 12,226
involved children; 400 of the pediatric medical events were injuries.
The most common injuries were burns (39%), contusions (30%), lacerations (21%) and
closed head injuries (8%). The most frequent causes of injury were hot soup or beverages
that were spilled on a child (36%), particularly those sitting in an aisle seat, and
falls from the seat by unrestrained or lap children (25%).
The authors noted that while children younger than 2 made up only 1% of passengers,
they sustained 35% of pediatric injuries.
The Academy has called for a federal requirement for restraint use for children on
aircraft, including those younger than 2. The authors agreed that restraints may have
prevented injuries from falls detailed in the study.
“By law, in the United States, an infant must be secured to a properly positioned
safety seat with a 5-point restraint to ride in an automobile at 50 mph but is free
to ride unrestrained on the lap of an adult inside an aircraft moving at speeds greater
than 500 mph on a tridimensional trajectory and subjected to unexpected turbulence,”