Department of Haematology University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Ituku Ozalla Enugu.
Department of Medical Laboratory, Faculty of Health science UNEC Enugu.
J Prev Med Hyg. 2021 Sep 15;62(3):E704-E708. doi: 10.15167/2421-4248/jpmh2021.62.3.2159. eCollection 2021 Sep.
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a notable but often ignored cause of disability and death. Improved public awareness of the symptoms and risks associated with VTE reduces the burden of disease.
We aimed to determine the awareness of VTE among the general population.
We conducted a population-based study using a pre-tested, pre-validated Ipsos-Reid questionnaire between October 2019 to March 2020. The questionnaire was distributed to consenting adults in the capital cities of Enugu and Ebonyi states of South-Eastern Nigeria to determine their awareness and knowledge of the symptoms and risk factors of VTE.
A total of 284 adults participated with a mean age of 32.73 ± 10.33 years and majority (70.8%) had a post-secondary education. While majority were aware of other medical conditions like a heart attack (96.1%), stroke (97.2%), diabetes (98.2%), HIV/AIDS (98.6%), cancer (97.2%) and malaria (98.2), just a few of the subjects were aware of thrombosis (41.5%) and DVT (33.8%). Less than half (42.4%) correctly described DVT as a blood clot in the vein and 13.7% of the respondents knew what PE feels like. A minority of them knew the risk factors of VTE included hospital stay (19.0%), surgery (37.2%), cancer (31.6%), pregnancy (31.6%) and old age (29.6%). Age and gender showed no statistically significant association with awareness of VTE, p value, 0.491 and 0.287, respectively.
The awareness of VTE in the general population is low. Public awareness programs should be a public health priority to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with VTE.
静脉血栓栓塞症（VTE）是导致残疾和死亡的一个显著但常被忽视的原因。提高公众对 VTE 相关症状和风险的认识可减轻疾病负担。
我们旨在确定普通人群对 VTE 的认识。
我们于 2019 年 10 月至 2020 年 3 月期间，采用经预测试和预验证的益普索-瑞德问卷调查，开展了一项基于人群的研究。该问卷发放给尼日利亚东南部埃努古州和埃博尼州首府的同意参与的成年人，以确定他们对 VTE 症状和危险因素的认识和了解。
共有 284 名成年人参与，平均年龄为 32.73 ± 10.33 岁，大多数（70.8%）受过中学后教育。尽管大多数人了解其他医学疾病，如心脏病发作（96.1%）、中风（97.2%）、糖尿病（98.2%）、艾滋病毒/艾滋病（98.6%）、癌症（97.2%）和疟疾（98.2%），但只有少数人了解血栓形成（41.5%）和深静脉血栓形成（33.8%）。不到一半（42.4%）的人正确描述深静脉血栓形成是静脉中的血凝块，13.7%的受访者知道肺栓塞是什么感觉。他们中只有少数人知道 VTE 的危险因素包括住院治疗（19.0%）、手术（37.2%）、癌症（31.6%）、妊娠（31.6%）和老年（29.6%）。年龄和性别与对 VTE 的认识无统计学显著关联，p 值分别为 0.491 和 0.287。
普通人群对 VTE 的认识较低。应将提高公众认识的计划作为公共卫生的重点，以降低与 VTE 相关的发病率和死亡率。
