Chronic Venous Disease in an Ethnically Diverse Population: The San Diego Population Study

Abstract

In a 1994-1998 cross-sectional study of a multiethnic sample of 2,211 men and women in San Diego, California, the authors estimated prevalence of the major manifestations of chronic venous disease: spider veins, varicose veins, trophic changes, and edema by visual inspection; superficial and deep functional disease (reflux or obstruction) by duplex ultrasonography; and venous thrombotic events based on history. Venous disease increased with age, and, compared with Hispanics, African Americans, and Asians, non-Hispanic Whites had more disease. Spider veins, varicose veins, superficial functional disease, and superficial thrombotic events were more common in women than men (odds ratio (OR) = 5.4, OR = 2.2, OR = 1.9, and OR = 1.9, respectively; p < 0.05), but trophic changes and deep functional disease were less common in women (OR = 0.7 for both; p < 0.05). Visible (varicose veins or trophic changes) and functional (superficial or deep) disease were closely linked; 92.0% of legs were concordant and 8.0% discordant. For legs evidencing both trophic changes and deep functional disease, the age-adjusted prevalences of edema, superficial events, and deep events were 48.2%, 11.3%, and 24.6%, respectively, compared with 1.7%, 0.6%, and 1.3% for legs visibly and functionally normal. However, visible disease did not invariably predict functional disease, or vice versa, and venous thrombotic events occurred in the absence of either.

Ethnicity and Peripheral Arterial Disease

“…Details of the methodology including response rates have been reported previously. 12 In brief, random selection was made within strata defined by age, sex, and ethnicity. For age, the categories were 29 to 49 years (predominately 40 to 49 years), 50 to 59 years, 60 to 69 years, and 70 to 91 years (predominately 70 to 79 years).…”

Differences in Inflammatory Cytokine Levels between Patients with Varying Severity of Chronic Venous Insufficiency

“…Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) affects 10-20% of the population and is clinically characterized by persistent lower extremity edema due to underlying venous hypertension [1,2]. The spectrum of clinical sequelae ranges from persistent swelling and venous stasis changes to venous ulcers.…”

Cyanoacrylate for the treatment of small saphenous vein venous incompetence

“…Reflux in superficial veins of lower limbs is reported in 15% of men and 28% of women [1]. It is associated with the symptoms of pain, aches, discomfort, and leg swelling.…”