Source
Travel Clinic, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine of the University, Zurich, Switzerland.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Travel health risks documented by questionnaire surveys obtained (e.g., during homebound flights) are incomplete since they miss most patients who need to be repatriated.
METHODS:
All patient claim files were reviewed from 1997 to 1998, of the largest Swiss travel insurance company.
RESULTS:
Among 242 claims, 69.4% were due to illness, 30.6% due to accidents; infections were the most frequent illnesses, the extremities were the most frequently traumatized part of the body. Although the illness-to-accident ratio was 1:5 in industrialized countries and the Caribbean, it exceeded 3:0 in some developing regions. Accident proneness was noted in the first week abroad.
CONCLUSION:
Even if no denominator data are available, this analysis offers an insight in travel health risks, allowing comparison of the occurrences of very different, serious, health problems abroad.