I’m sure you have had a family of a new baby ask you if taking their infant on a plane in the early days of life could be a problem. What’s the evidence that infants might have more of an issue than older children or adults? Vetter-Laracy et al. (10.1542/peds.2015-2915) performed a prospective observational study designed to determine the earliest “fit-to-fly” age by testing newborns who were less than week old. The authors studied healthy babies, preterms >= 34 weeks 2-3 days before discharge (close to if not at term gestational age) and preterms with bronchopulmonary dysplasia—all of whom were planning a flight shortly after discharge home. The authors tested the infants with a “pre-flight hypoxia challenge test (involving a body plethysmograph) with an FiO2 of 15% to see if they could maintain oxygen saturations above 85% .
So who failed to keep their saturations up during the pre-flight challenge? You’ll have to just plane read through this study to find out—but the trip is well worth taking so you in turn can evidence-base your advice on infants flying as a result of reading this high-flying study.
