Management of Chronic Venous Disease by General Practitioners in Serbia: A Cross–Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Chronic venous disease (CVD) is one of the most prevalent medical conditions in the general population worldwide. Objective: To evaluate the management of CVD provided by general practitioners (GPs). Methods and Materials: The 2–center cross–sectional study comprised 2284 patients with CVD diagnosed and treated by GPs. Demographic and clinical data were obtained by physical examinations and standardized interviews. Results: Patients were counseled about different types of therapy; lifestyle advice was recommended to 88.8%, venoactive drugs to 90.8%, compression therapy to 44.0% of patients, anticoagulants to 16.7%, surgical treatment to 8.3%, and other types of therapy were recommended to 7.8% of patients. The most common types of treatment were dual and triple therapies recommended to 39.5% and 33.1%, respectively. The number of therapies recommended to patients increased with CVD progression. Treatment was not recommended to < 1% of patients. Only 8.4% of patients were referred to a vein specialist. Conclusions: Although GPs had undergone special medical training about CVD before they were included in the study, some patients did not receive complete management of their condition. Continuous training of GPs and clinical guidelines for the management of CVD may help GPs to make adequate decisions.

Keywords:

• chronic venous disease
• general practitioners
• refer to vein specialist
• therapy