Abstract P145: Demographic And Clinical Predictors Of Incident Clinically-recognized Varicose Veins In Older Adults

Background: Varicose veins are common in older adults, and associated with major clinical adverse outcomes such as deep venous thrombosis. Although there are a few established risk factors of varicose veins such as female sex, height, and obesity, some other risk factors demonstrated inconsistent results. Aim: To identify demographic and clinical risk factors of incident varicose veins Methods: Using data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study over five clinic visits, we constructed a cohort of 6612 adults aged 65-70 years to be able to capture outpatient visits using Medicare data. For each participant, the first visit when meeting age range (65-70 years) was used as baseline. Varicose veins were defined as two outpatient encounters (at least a week apart) or inpatient diagnoses through 2015 (ICD9 codes:454.xx). Participants with clinically-recognized varicose veins prior to baseline were excluded. We explored demographic and clinical predictors routinely evaluated in ARIC visits using Cox regression. Results: During a median follow-up of 15 years, 348 (5%) of participants developed incident clinically-recognized varicose veins. We confirmed female sex, greater height, and higher body mass index were associated with varicose veins ( Table ). In addition, white race, loop diuretic use, prevalent heart failure were independently associated with incident varicosities. In subsample with relevant data, higher cardiac troponin T and natriuretic peptide were also independently associated with varicose veins. When we censored participants who left Medicare fee-for-service, results were largely consistent. Conclusions: In this community-based cohort study of older adults, in addition to established predictors, we found that white race and clinical and treatment factors related to cardiac function were associated with clinically-recognized varicose veins that may help identify those at high-risk of varicose veins.