Parents' attitudes towards infant safety during air travel.

REFERENCES 1. IATA . FACT SHEET: Industry Statistics, 2010. http:// www.iata.org/pressroom/facts_fi gures/fact_sheets/ Documents/industry-facts-december-10.pdf (accessed 23 Feb 2011). 2. Lee AP, Yamamoto LG, Relles RL. Commercial airline travel decreases oxygen saturation in children . Pediatr Emerg Care 2002 ; 18 : 78 – 80 . http:// journals.lww.com/pec-online/Fulltext/2002/04000/ Commercial_airline_travel_decreases_oxygen.4.aspx (accessed 23 Feb 2011). 3. Federal Aviation Administration . Examination on the Enhancement of Cabin Safety for Infants, 2001 . http://www.fi re.tc.faa.gov/2001Conference/ fi les/CrashCabinSafetyComponentTesting/ MSperberPAPER.pdf (accessed 23 Feb 2011). 4. Committee on Injury and Poison Prevention . Restraint use on aircraft . Pediatrics 2001 ; 108 : 1218 – 22 . 5. Newman TB, Johnston BD, Grossman DC. Effects and costs of requiring child-restraint systems for young children traveling on commercial airplanes . Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2003 ; 157 : 969 – 74 . clinic during the study period and agreed to participate in the study was considered eligible. The study investigator received fully informed written consent and parents were administered a pilot tested, self-fi lled questionnaire. The questionnaire was test piloted among medical staff. SPSS was used for the descriptive analysis of data ( http:// www.spss.com/ ). Sixty questionnaires were distributed and 52 parents returned the questionnaire, with a response rate of 86%. All respondents were females, with a mean age of 33 (SD ±6) years. Thirty-two respondents (62%) had never travelled with a child less than 2 years of age in the previous 2 years. Of the 52 respondents, only 6 (11.5%) had heard about CRDs for air travel but none had used one. Forty-three (84%) parents believed that a CRD is important for infant safety and 48 (92%) were willing to purchase a separate seat for a CRD. Thirty-two (66%) were willing to pay up to 50% of the cost of an adult seat for CRD use. Knowledge of CRD and safety related to infant safety during air travel is very limited. Further parent education by both airlines and healthcare professionals is required to increase awareness of infant safety issues during air travel and to implement policies to improve infant outcomes following turbulence and survivable crashes.