Article: Low awareness of venous thromboembolism among the general population: a call for increased public enlightenment programs

Background: 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.

Aim: We aimed to determine the awareness of VTE among the general population.

Methods: 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.

Results: 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.

Conclusion: 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.

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Low Awareness of Venous Thromboembolism Among the General Population: a Call for Increased Public Enlightenment Programs