Treatment of Varicose Veins Affects the Incidences of Venous Thromboembolism and Peripheral Artery Disease

Abstract

Background: Varicose veins are a common problem worldwide. Although it was reported that varicose veins have cosmetic and symptomatic effects and can also lead to an increased risk of incident deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and peripheral artery disease, whether varicose vein treatment prevents those serious complications is unknown. Methods: This retrospective cohort study used claims data extracted from the Chang Gung Research Database and National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. The study subjects were patients aged ≥20 years who underwent endovenous thermal ablation (ETA) from 2005 to 2016 and a group of untreated subjects who were matched by sex and year of birth. All patients were followed from the index date to the earliest occurrence of peripheral artery disease, deep venous thrombosis, or pulmonary embolism or death or the end of the study. To avoid possible selection bias, 1:4 propensity score matching was implemented and a Cox proportional-hazards model was applied while controlling for potential confounders. We also collected data on complications within 28 days of ETA. Results: In total, data on 1323 ETA-treated patients with varicose veins were extracted from the Chang Gung Research Database, while data on 149 586 untreated patients with varicose veins were extracted from the National Health Insurance Research Database. Compared with the untreated group, ETA-treated patients had decreased risks of deep venous thrombosis and peripheral artery disease (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.49 [95% CI, 0.32–0.75] and 0.64 [95% CI, 0.49–0.85]). The incidence rates of deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism after ETA (≤28 days) were 0.296% and 0.074%, respectively. Conclusions: ETA treatment of varicose veins was associated with a substantial decrease in the subsequent incidence of thromboembolism and peripheral artery disease compared with that in the absence of treatment. In addition, the incidence rate of postprocedural thromboembolic complications after ETA was low in the Asian population. We suggest that improved disease awareness and appropriate early treatment may help reduce the risk of serious complications.