44,000 In-Flight Emergencies Recorded in U.S. in Past Year

Recent statistics show that medical emergencies on board an aircraft may be a bit more common than you'd like to think.

As approximately 2.75 billion passengers fly on commercial airlines each year, there are at least 44,000 in-flight emergencies a year that resulted in the death of 50 in the United States alone.

According to an article published Friday in New England Journal of Medicine, as only one-third of 1 percent of emergencies ended in death, one in four patients went to the emergency rooms after landing and 8 percent were admitted to the hospital. The study notes that only 7 percent of emergencies required that planes have emergency landings.

For women at a later stage in their pregnancy, flying can be risky and even dangerous for the mother and the health of her child. ABC News notes that Northwest Airlines, for example, requires a note from a physician if a woman is wanting to travel on board within one month of her due date.

However, the study shows that only 11 of the 11,920 in-flight emergencies examined involved women in late pregnancy who were in labor. In three of these cases, flights were diverted for safety reasons. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology says air travel is generally safe for women up to the 36th week of pregnancy.

In most cases, trained health professionals were available to help out, with doctors available for nearly half of the cases, and nurses providing care in 20 percent of the emergencies.

The study also notes that 37 percent of in-flight emergencies involve fainting or light-headedness.