title: Prevalence, risk and aggravating factors of chronic venous disease: an epidemiological survey of the general population of Greece.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic venous disease (CVD) is a common disease all over the world, mainly in Western Europe and the USA.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the prevalence of CVD in the Greek general population and the characteristics of CVD.
  
  
  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%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Vascular Unit, Oncology Department of 3rd Internal Medicine Clinic of the University of Athens School of Sotiria, General Hospital, Athens, Greece. edimakakos@yahoo.gr
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dimakakos
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Syrigos
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Scliros
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karaitianos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult