Pregnancy, oral contraception, hormone replacement therapy and the occurrence of varicose veins: Edinburgh vein study

Objective: To determine the relationship between varicose veins and duratio n of menstrual life, age of menopause, pregnancy, oral contraceptive use an d 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 repr oductive 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 pregnan t (p less than or equal to 0.05). Women aged 35-54 years who were current u sers or ex-users of the oral contraceptive pill had a lower prevalence of t runk varicose veins than women who had never taken the pill (p less than or equal to 0.10). HRT was also associated with a lower prevalence of trunk v arices (P less than or equal to 0.05). Conclusions: These results suggest that alterations in the balance of the s ex hormones may have a role in the aetiology of varicose veins.