How Vein Disease Negatively Impacts Your Daily Life

When discussing vein disease, we often talk of its symptoms, its complications, and its cosmetic manifestations. It’s less common that we discuss its impact on everyday life. The symptoms of vein disease obviously cause a great deal of discomfort, but how do they impact routine activities and quality of life? And to what extent? To best answer these questions, we dug into the study results of the National Venous Screening Program.

Percent of individuals reporting that their ankles/legs negatively impact an aspect of their daily life at least moderately. Based on responses to the Chronic Venous Insufficiency Quality of Life Questionnaire (CIVIQ) in the National Venous Screening Program.¹

While we feel that this mosaic of responses accurately reflects the experiences of individuals with chronic venous disease in our practice, there are some important study limitations to keep in mind with respect to the question of “How do vein problems affect daily life?” First and foremost is that, for many of the study participants, these experiences could be the result of other sources of morbidity. Higher CIVIQ scores (lower quality of life) were found to be correlated with more severe chronic venous disease (higher CEAP classification), but they were also found to be correlated with smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure. Because the study population was older, it’s also conceivable that other conditions that weren’t documented – such as arthritis – contributed to these responses.

Evaluating the Impact of Vein Disease On Overall Health

At Texas Vascular Institute, it’s very common for our patients to report persistent pain, sleep interruption, and difficulties in their daily activities due to discomfort in their legs. We feel that these aspects of daily life are important for individuals (and healthcare providers) to evaluate when considering the overall health implications of their vein disease.

About the Author

Dr. Dev Batra, M.D. is a vein specialist and founding partner of Texas Vascular Institute. Holding board certifications in radiology and vascular & interventional radiology, he is well-versed in vein issues and has been voted one of D-Magazine’s best doctors in Dallas for three years running.

This blog post was written with research and editorial assistance from OnChart™.

References

[1] McLafferty, R. B., Passman, M. A., Caprini, J. A., Rooke, T. W., Markwell, S. A., Lohr, J. M., … Dalsing, M. C. (2008). Increasing awareness about venous disease: The American Venous Forum expands the National Venous Screening Program. Journal of Vascular Surgery, 48(2), 394–399.

Medical Disclaimer

The Materials available in the Texas Vascular Institute blog are for informational and educational purposes only and are not a substitute for the professional judgment of a healthcare professional in diagnosing and treating patients.