Prevalence and associated factors of chronic venous disease among a modern non-western population

Abstract

Abstract Background Chronic venous disease (CVD) of the lower extremities is a commonly occurring vascular disease with varied clinical manifestations and an uncertain prevalence due to differences in population characteristics and measurement techniques. Purpose The aim of this study was to assess chronic venous disease prevalence and identify associated risk factors in a modern non-western urban population. Methods 2227 adults aged 30–75 years with no overt cardiovascular diseases were randomly selected from different city districts to participate in a cardiovascular cohort. After they were informed about the examination methods, including total lower extremities exposure, 1176 (52%) of them agreed to participate. Two trained interventional cardiologists evaluated CVD using the Clinical-Etiology-Anatomy-Pathophysiology (CEAP) classification ensuring that all participants were evaluated by the same criteria in order to obtain reliable results. CVD was classified as C1–C6, and chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) as C3–C6. In this study, CVD associations were investigated using a multivariable regression model that accounted for pre-specified variables such as age, sex, body mass index (≥30 kg/m2), smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, physical activity, dyslipidemia, and delivery. Results The prevalence of CVD and CVI among the participants was 36.5% (95% CI, 33.8 to 39.3) and 0.7% (95% CI, 0.3 to 1.3), respectively, and CVD prevalence was more frequent in women (44.2% vs. 23.5%). Based on multivariable analysis advanced age (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.04 to 1.08), female sex (OR, 2.98; 95% CI, 2.14 to 4.14), and a body mass index of ≥30 (OR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.03 to 1.81) were independently associated CVD. Physical activity (OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.58 to 1.02) was nearly protective, whereas other factors, including traditional cardiovascular risk factors, did not appear to have any meaningful association with CVD. Conclusions Our results showed that CVD was prevalent in a modern non-western urban population. Due to the low prevalence of advanced stages of the disease, mass screening is debatable, and better risk discriminators are needed.Figure 1Table 1