Table 1.

Summary of published case series and case reports of travelers with sickle cell disease and their medical complications.

Reference	Cases	Age	Destination	Duration	Complications
Morbidity among child travellers with sickle cell disease visiting tropical areas: an observational study in a French tertiary care centre [16]	39	4.3–11.7 years (median 7.8)	Mali, n=14, Ivory Coast, n=6, Senegal, n=5, Guinea, n=2, Togo, n=2, Niger, n=1, Mauitania, n=1, West Indies, n=4	30–60 days (median 42)	Fever 17.6%, gastrointestinal disorders 17.6%, Vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) 5%
The risk of going abroad in sickle cell disease[2]	148	18–56 years (median 26.8)	Africa, 49%, Europe, 27%, West Indies, 22%, Asia, 2%	Not reported	VOC 68%, fever 19%, diarrhea 19%, bronchopulmonary symptoms 11%, headaches 8%, vomiting 6%, cutaneous wound 4%
Sickle cell children travelling abroad: primary risk is infection[17]	42	0.2–17.7 years (median 7.6)	Africa, 100% (Mali, West Africa, Madagascar, Moracco)	0.5–3mo (median 1.29 months)	Fever 9.6%, malaria 4.8%, gastrointestinal infection, 4.8%, VOC, 2%, urinary tract infection, 2%
Acute splenic syndrome in an African-American male with sickle cell trait on a commercial airplane flight[61]	1	43 years	San Diego, CA to Newark, NJ on commercial airline	A few hours	Splenic infarction and subsequent splenectomy
Sudden death during long distance air travel in an HbS/C disease patient[62]	1	41 years	Kuala Lampur, Malaysia	2 hours prior to landing	Sudden death from pulmonary thrombo-embolism
Airline travel in sickle cell disease[63]	73	25 years	Between Jamaica and Miami	Not reported	VOC in 1 patient (1.4%)
Risk of altitude exposure in sickle cell disease[52]	45	10–62 years	Commercial airline trips; Reno, NV and Lake Tahoe, CA	Air travel time—1–14 hours, Mountain exposure—not reported	Mountain exposure—splenic crisis (15%), VOC (42%); Air travel—splenic crisis (12.5%), VOC (10%)