Lifestyle factors and varicose veins: does cross-sectional design result in underestimate of the risk?

OBJECTIVES: To assess whether smoking, alcohol drinking and dietary factors are linked with varicose veins. METHODS: A middle-aged general population of 4903 was studied, and prevalence rates at entry and five-year incidence of varicose veins were assessed. Lifestyle habits were recorded at entry and at the end of the follow-up. RESULTS: New varicose veins were significantly more common in individuals with regular alcohol intake, incidence odds ratio (OR) 1.5 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.05-2.3) in a multivariate analysis (of 2202 individuals). The association was particularly strong in women. Smokers had a higher incidence of varicose veins compared with non-smokers, OR 1.3 (95% CI: 0.9-1.8), but without statistical significance. Having daily meals of meat implied less new varicose veins than having 0-2 weekly meals of meat. CONCLUSION: Alcohol was likely to increase the risk of varicose veins in women and smoking in both genders. These findings were seen in the follow-up design, but not when the data of these risk factors were compared with varicose veins prevalent at entry.

The risk of congestive heart failure is increased in persons with varicose veins.

AIM: Varicose veins are a common condition but their etiology and relationship with other cardiovascular diseases are not well established. The aim of the study was to find out if persons with varicose veins have a higher risk of congestive heart failure (CHF) than persons without varicose veins. METHODS: The prevalence of CHF at entry and the incidence of CHF during a five-year follow-up period were studied in persons with and without varicose veins. A study was conducted with a questionnaire in a population of 4903 middle-aged residents in Tampere, Finland. RESULTS: Marginally higher prevalence of CHF was found in persons with varicose veins than in those without (2.9% vs. 1.9%) with OR 1.6 (1.0-2.3) and sex and age adjusted OR 1.2 (0.8-1.9). The incidence of CHF was higher in subjects with varicose veins than in others (4.9 vs. 2.6 per 1000 person-years) with IDR 1.9 (1.1-2.9) and sex and age adjusted IOR 2.5 (1.4-4.6). The result was further adjusted for body mass index, arterial disease and hypertension; multi-adjusted IOR for the incidence of CHF by varicose veins was 2.1 (1.1-4.0). CONCLUSIONS: Our longitudinal observation is consistent with the hypothesis that persons with varicose veins have a higher risk of CHF which is not mediated through sex, age, overweight, arterial disease or hypertension.

Arterial disease but not hypertension predisposes to varicose veins.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to find out if persons with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) (arterial disease or hypertension) have additional risk of varicose veins (VV) compared with those without arterial disease (AD) or hypertension. METHODS: We studied, using a validated questionnaire, the prevalence and incidence of VVs in those with and without CVD in a population of 4903 including 40-, 50- and 60-year-old men and women in Tampere, Finland. During the five years of follow-up, we had a special interest on the appearance of new VVs in those without VVs at entry (n = 3065). RESULTS: We found a higher prevalence of VVs in persons with CVD than in those without CVD (with sex and age adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.3 [95% confidence interval, CI 1.1-1.5]). The prevalence of VVs was higher in persons with AD (OR 1.7 [CI 1.4-2.2]), but not in persons with hypertension (OR 1.1 [CI 0.9-1.2]) than in those who were free of AD or hypertension, respectively. Subjects with AD had higher incidence of VVs (incidence odds ratio, IOR 1.4 [CI 0.8-2.7]) than subjects without AD and the effect was statistically significant in women (IOR 2.2 [CI 1.1-4.5]). Also the incidence of VVs was more affected by AD than by hypertension (IOR 1.1 [CI 0.7-1.8]). CONCLUSION: There seems to exist a relatively strong additional risk of VVs in persons with AD and practically none in those with hypertension compared to those without.