By Soh Ji-young
Staff Reporter

Long periods of time spent in front of a computer may cause blood clots in the lungs which can result to death, a local researcher warned on Thursday.

Doctor Lee Ho of the National Institute of Scientific Investigation said that a 24-year-old man was found to have died from pulmonary thromboembolism after playing computer games for four consecutive days in an Internet cafe in October 2002.

Pulmonary thromboembolism refers to the sudden occlusion of a lung artery due to a blood clot dislodged from somewhere else in the body. This leads to obstruction of the blood supply to the lung tissue and if not treated rapidly, can result in respiratory and circulatory collapse and even death.

This is the first time in the world that a person was reported to have died from pulmonary thromboembolism after using a computer for a long period of time.

Lee published his findings in a recent edition of the Yonsei Medical Journal published by Yonsei University.

The doctor stressed it is important for people to carry out light exercises when spending long hours in front of computers to protect their health.

``In the case of Korea, where computer networks and Internet cafes are very well developed, the risk of death caused by lung blood clots is very high,’’ said an official of the Korean Medical Association (KMA).

``Computer users must keep this in mind when they spend long hours in front of the computer,’’ he said.

The KMA asked the government to revise laws to obligate the attachment of warning signs to computers which recommend users to regularly stand up and move around.

jysoh@koreatimes.co.kr