Startling Facts About Deep Vein Thrombosis
March 24, 2009 by Peggy Rowland
Filed under Women's Health
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and its complications take the lives of more people each year in the US than both breast cancer and AIDS combined! It affects 2 million people in the US annually, and March marks the sixth annual DVT awareness month, coordinated by The Coalition to Prevent Deep-Vein Thrombosis. This post isn’t intended to scare you, but only to help increase your awareness about this potentially deadly disorder.
What is DVT and who’s at risk?
DVT occurs when a blood clot forms in a large vein (often in the lower legs). The clot blocks circulation and may result in a very dangerous pulmonary embolism (PE).
While anyone can be affected by DVT, certain people are at greater risk. A few of the risk factors include: obesity, smoking, recent surgery and restricted mobility. To learn more about your own personal risk, use the DVT Risk Accessor at The Coalition to Prevent Deep-Vein Thrombosis.
If you’re at risk or if you’re about to have a surgery with extended bed rest to follow, please talk with your doctor about ways to prevent DVT.
To help prevent DVTs while sitting still for a long period of time, such during an 8-hour flight, you may benefit from wearing compression stockings, walking down the aisle hourly and flexing your feet every 20 minutes (source: WebMD).
The following facts about DVT (courtesy of The Coalition to Prevent Deep-Vein Thrombosis) may really surprise you!
PE is the leading cause of maternal death associated with childbirth. A woman’s risk of developing VTE is six times greater when she is pregnant.
Without preventive treatment, up to 60 percent of patients who undergo total hip replacement surgery may develop DVT.
Fatal PE may be the most common preventable cause of hospital death in the US.
Up to 600,000 people are hospitalized in the US each year for DVT.
Cancer patients undergoing surgical procedures have at least twice the risk of postoperative DVT and more than three times the risk of fatal PE than non-cancer patients undergoing similar procedures.
DVT may occur without symptoms, but some common symptoms include swelling of the affected leg and warmness, redness or tenderness in the calf or thigh or other areas of the leg.
Do you know someone who has been affected by DVT or PE?
(Image by Compression Stockings.com)
DVT can be extremely dangerous! I worked as a cardiovascular nurse for 25 years and pulmonary embolism can be deadly. That is what the journalist David Bloom died of when he was embedded with the troops. A friend of mine broke her ankle while out of town and flew cross country to get home. She ended up with a PE and was in ICU for days.
Hi Debbie. The spokesperson for Coalition to Prevent DVT is David Bloom’s widow.
Good call on that. People never think about that kind of thing. To be honest, I only do now because there’s a Factor V Leiden mutation in my family, and of course my mother and I had to get it (my mother had two cases off phlebitis and one PE while she was pregnant with my sister; I’ve been lucky so far). The only positive point is that it’s a really potent incentive for me to avoid gaining on weight, never start smoking, and exercise regularly.