Chronic Venous Disease, Obesity and the Risk of Venous Thromboembolism in a Czech Population

Abstract

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a multifactorial disease. Reported risk factors vary widely with uncertainty as to the magnitude and independence of each factor. The major risks for VTE are prior history of VTE, older age, obesity, family history of VTE, oral estrogen/ progestin therapy and varicose veins. The epidemiologic case-control study Sirius defined chronic venous insufficiency and obesity in medical outpatients as among the five most important intrinsic risk factors for deep vein thrombosis (DVT). We investigated the prevalence of VTE (symptomatic deep vein thrombosis and/or pulmonary embolism) and superficial vein thrombosis (SVT) in patients suffering from chronic venous disease (CVD) and the impact of BMI as an intrinsic factor for risk of VTE and SVT in a Czech population [1,2].