RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Chronic venous disease (CVD) is a common disease all over the world, mainly in Western Europe and the USA. AIM: To evaluate the prevalence of CVD in the Greek general population and the characteristics of CVD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study sample included 1500 individuals, 15-64 years of age, who were citizens of Athens, Thessaloniki, or one of five Greek cities with more than 10,000 in the population. The sample was selected by a stratified, multistage, random sampling procedure based on the Greek Census 2001. Questionnaires were completed for each individual by personal interview. RESULTS: From 1500 individuals, 224 (14.9%) had symptoms and/or signs of CVD, 9.6% were men and 20.1% were women. The highest percentage of presenting CVD symptoms was among 45-54-year-olds (23.4%) and 55-64-year-olds (27%). The symptoms that were mostly mentioned among sufferers were 58% achy legs, 37.4% swollen legs and 25.3% heavy legs, whereas the frequent signs were broken capillaries - telangiectasia (19.2%) and varicose veins (14.8%). About 62.9% with CVD had an obese body mass index (BMI > 25). The prevalence of CVD in patients with prolonged standing hours at work (4+ hours) was 20.8%. The symptoms of CVD were worse during the summer period only in 26.8% of the patients whereas in 50.8% during all the year. Regarding quality of life, more than 40% of the patients had either health or cosmetic problems. Sufferers mentioned that they took first advice from physicians (28%), or from friends and relatives (27%) or from pharmacists (26%). CONCLUSION: This is a real whole-population study of Greece - a Mediterranean country that provides important and remarkable data on the epidemiology of CVD and highlights that we need improvement of relations within the triangle constituted by physicians, patients and disease.