Background: Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a common disease and is defined as the development of a blood clot in the major deep veins in the body, which might result in impaired venous blood flow, leg swelling, and pain. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of deep venous thrombosis, its risk factors, and therapeutic strategies among adult patients in Al-Madinah province.
Methods: This analytical descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2017 to August 2020 and included all DVT cases in Al-Madinah governmental hospitals and those recorded from medical records and online questionnaire which was delivered by social media to Al-Madinah residence.
Results: Out of 1,397 participants, 385 patients had DVT with a prevalence of 27.56%, including 65.2% of females and 34.8% of males. The most affected age was 40 years and older. Among the evaluated risk factors, immobility/long distance traveling was the most common risk factor (15.8%). Smoking showed a significant gender difference (p = 0.001) in males when compared to females, and the oral antithrombotic medications were the most used therapeutic strategy.
Conclusion: It was found that DVT is a common disease in Al-Madinah with a higher prevalence (27.56%) compared to the worldwide 1/1,000 population every year, with a higher frequency in females than males. In Al-Madinah province, the immobility is considered to be the most common contributing risk factor in developing DVT.
Key words: Antithrombotic therapy, deep vein thrombosis, prevalence, immobility.
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