Medical cases treated by airport medical personnel can be “as various and … critical” as those treated in hospital emergency rooms, according to a two-year analysis of medical events that occurred at a clinic in a major international airport.
A report by Turkish researchers, published in the May issue of Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance, said their conclusions were based on a review of 11,799 reports on patients seen from 2016 through 2018 at the clinic in Istanbul Ataturk Airport. Those patients were among the 192.5 million passengers who traveled to and from the airport during those years.
Of the 11,799 patients, 78 percent had medical complaints, most commonly involving gastrointestinal symptoms, and 10 percent complained of trauma. Ten percent of patients were transferred to a hospital, either taken by ambulance to an Istanbul hospital or flown to another airport for treatment at another medical facility, and 2 percent visited the clinic to obtain a cer…
