To evaluate the differences of risk factors in patients with lower extremity venous disease

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there is a difference between risk factors in patients diagnosed to have clinically documented lower extremity venous disease after confirming the diagnosis radiologically by ultrasonographic and venographic evaluation.

METHODS: This study was performed from January 2002 to January 2005 in Bursa, the fourth biggest city of Turkey, situated in the west of the country in the Marmara Region. The study center is a private imaging center working in conjunction with the Department of Health, which performs diagnostic, and therapeutic vascular protocols in the region. Five hundred and fifty-three cases with clinically and radiologically documented diagnoses were evaluated with Multi-Variate Statistical Package 3.13 for the presence of pre-defined clusters of 14 different variables. Other statistical analyses were performed by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 13.0.

RESULTS: Three different clusters were defined. The variables used to define the clusters were: age, gender, educational level, presence of smoking, amount of smoking (pack/per year), disease symptoms, presence of heart disease, and radiologically documented diagnosis.

CONCLUSION: Chronic venous insufficiency and varicose veins are venous system diseases that are most commonly present in association with more than one concomitant risk factor.