TUESDAY, July 7 (HealthDay News) -- Travel significantly increases the risk of venous thromboembolism, according to a study published online July 7 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Divay Chandra, M.D., of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of 14 studies, including 11 case-control, two cohort, and one case-crossover, involving 4,055 venous thromboembolism patients.

The researchers found that travel was associated with a nearly tripled risk for venous thromboembolism (pooled relative risk, 2.8) and that each two-hour travel increase in any travel mode was associated with an 18 percent increased risk and each two-hour increase in air travel was associated with a 26 percent higher risk.

"These findings provide the strongest evidence to date of the presence and magnitude of association between travel and venous thromboembolism," the authors write. "They also indicate the efficacy of low-cost and low-risk interventions, such as increased hydration and ambulation, should be investigated for all general travelers -- particularly those with longer durations of travel -- and that additional interventions and therapies should be evaluated for higher-risk subgroups."

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