Chronic venous disease (CVD) affects millions of people and negatively impacting the patient's quality of life (QoL) and most of the patients are diagnosed with CVD in advanced stages. The impact of newly diagnosed CVD on QoL has not been evaluated by other studies in Romania. The aim of this study was to assess the QoL for adult patients newly diagnosed with CVD addressing to the General Practitioner's (GP) office in Romania between June to August 2016. Patients included in the study were adult, signing the inform consent form, newly diagnosed with CVD or patients diagnosed with CVD, without CVD treatment the past 6 months. Data on demographic distribution, risk factors, clinical profiles, CVD symptomatology, QoL parameters, as well as pharmacological management practice were collected. The study included 1,893 patients (79.08% females) with 50.4% of patients in the age group 51-70 years. The most frequent CVD symptoms reported, were heavy leg sensation (85.74%), swelling of the feet (77.28%) and pain (73.11%). The most frequent CVD signs were telangiectasia and reticular veins (79.19%), varicose veins (65.77%) and edema (53.35%). The clinical, aetiological, anatomical and pathophysiological (CEAP) classification placed most of the patients in C3 class (31.85%), followed by C2 class (28.00%), C1 class (21.02%) and C4a (8.87%). Most of the patients reported 'low' or 'moderate' intensity of the CVD symptoms. QoL was affected for most of the patients at 'a mild' or 'moderate' degree, being noticed as a significant negative impact on physical, psychological, and social functioning components of QoL, correlated with CEAP class (P<0.001). Data regarding correlation of CEAP class, CVD symptoms and impact on QoL identified a significant correlation between all analyzed components (P<0.001). Study results prove that CVD diagnosis was established with relative delay and CVD is negatively affecting patients' QoL. Additional research will be needed to identify the long-term impact of CVD on QoL of the affected patients and their families.

Chronic venous disorder (CVD) is a complex disease, that affects millions of people worldwide, and due to the fact that in its early stages is often overlooked by healthcare providers and ignored by the patient, the assessment of incidence and prevalence of CVD is difficult to be made. The aim of this project was to assess the CVD prevalence, risk factors and clinical characteristics in the adult population in Romania. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in Romania from June 2015 to July 2015, including 185 general practitioners (GPs). Data regarding patient characteristics, risk factors, family medical history, CVD signs and symptoms, C-classification, and pharmacological management of CVD were collected. The study included 7,210 patients, predominantly female (71.0%), with the mean age of 58.2 years. Within the study population, 2,271 (31.5%) patients had already the CVD diagnosis established prior to the study visit, while for 2,664 (36.9%) patients, CVD was diagnosed during the visit, while for the rest of the patients, 2,275 (31.6%), CVD diagnosis was not established prior or during the study visit. Age, female, sex and previous pregnancies were major risk factors for developing CVD. The newly diagnosed CVD rate was 36.9% and the directly calculated CVD prevalence in June-July 2015 was 68.4%, while the indirectly calculated CVD prevalence was 80.7%. CVD is a very common disease, with a prevalence of CVD within the study population in June-July 2015 of 68.4%. The newly diagnosed CVD cases represent 36.9% of patients included in this study, nevertheless both parameters could be underestimated, as long as a significant percentage of patients presenting symptoms, but no CVD signs, were not considered by GPs as CVD cases.