Abstract
Objective:
To determine the relationship between varicose veins and duration of menstrual life, age of menopause, pregnancy, oral contraceptive use and hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
Design:
Cross-sectional study.
Setting:
City of Edinburgh, UK.
Participants:
Eight hundred and sixty-seven women aged 18–64 years randomly selected from 12 general practices.
Methods:
After completing a questionnaire, which included questions on reproductive history, the women underwent a comprehensive clinical examination including the assessment of varicose veins (trunk, hyphenweb and reticular varices), followed by duplex scanning of their legs.
Results:
Women who had been pregnant at least once were more likely to have minor hyphenweb or reticular varices than women who had never been pregnant (p ≤ 0.05). Women aged 35–54 years who were current users or ex-users of the oral contraceptive pill had a lower prevalence of trunk varicose veins than women who had never taken the pill (p ≤ 0.10). HRT was also associated with a lower prevalence of trunk varices (p ≤ 0.05).
Conclusions:
These results suggest that alterations in the balance of the sex hormones may have a role in the aetiology of varicose veins.
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