Background. The symptoms of venous insufficiency of the lower limbs (VILL)
include a feeling of heaviness in the legs, pain, and nocturnal cramps, whi
ch may be combined with organic disorders (varicose veins). The objective o
f this study was to determine the prevalence of VILL in terms of both varic
ose veins and functional symptoms in the participants of the SUVIMAX cohort
, which is representative of the French population for the age range under
consideration (women: 35-60; men: 45-60).
Methods. Information on the venous status of 3065 subjects in the SUVIMAX c
ohort were collected from three different sources: yearly systematic clinic
al examination (1994-1996), monthly follow-up by a telematic network (1994-
1998) and non-specific questionnaire (1997). Two mutually exclusive populat
ions were thus defined on medically diagnosed varicose veins and venous ins
ufficiency and reported varicose veins and Venous insufficiency.
Results. Venous insufficiency was medically diagnosed in 192 men (14.6%) an
d 584 women (33.6%), and Varicose veins were diagnosed in 143 men (74.5%) a
nd 317 women (54.2%) from this group. prevalence reported symptoms of venou
s insufficiency and of varicose veins was 13.6% and 7.4% respectively in me
n and 28.2% and 12.4% in women. Sex, age, body mass index and number of pre
gnancies were found to be correlated with the risk of venous insufficiency.
Conclusions. VILL is a very common disease in French adults both as varicos
e Veins and as functional symptoms. Veno-tonics were the main type of treat
ment but not enough use is made of elastic compression stockings.