Deep Vein Thrombosis - What Increases Your Risk
Many factors increase your risk for deep vein thrombosis. Some risk factors do not change, such as genetic blood irregularities. Other risk factors may change according to circumstances, such as pregnancy.
Major risk factors
Major risk factors for deep vein thrombosis include:
Causes of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) occurs when a blood clot forms in a vein deep inside a muscle in your body. It usually happens in the legs, but can also develop in your arms, chest, or other areas of your body. And though DVT is common, it can be dangerous. The blood clot can block your circulation or lodge in a blood vessel in your lungs, brain, heart, or other area. The clot can cause severe organ damage and even death -- within hours. The main cause of DVT is poor blood flow. When circulation...
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- Prolonged bed rest (more than 3 days), such as during a hospital stay.
- Abnormal blood clotting (hypercoagulable state), usually a result of inherited genes from one or both parents.
- Injury.
- Surgery, particularly major hip or knee surgery, neurosurgery, and abdominal or chest surgery associated with cancer.
- Cancer and its treatment.
- Paralysis from a spinal cord injury.
- Having a central venous catheter during a hospital stay.
Minor risk factors
Most of these risk factors are minimal by themselves but may become more significant in combination. Research continues on the importance of these risk factors and how they interrelate.
Your risk for deep vein thrombosis may be increased by:
- Certain health conditions such as varicose veins, heart attack, heart failure, and stroke.
- A long airplane flight or car trip.
- Pregnancy, especially immediately after giving birth or after a cesarean section.
- Increasing age. People older than 40 have a greater risk for deep vein thrombosis.
- Being overweight.
- Taking birth control hormones, such as daily pills or weekly patches. Current evidence shows that a woman's risk for pulmonary embolism, a complication of deep vein thrombosis, increases while she is taking birth control hormones. Past use of birth control pills does not appear to increase this risk.
- Current use of hormone therapy (hormone replacement therapy or estrogen replacement therapy), raloxifene (Evista) for osteoporosis, or the breast cancer treatment tamoxifen (Nolvadex).
- Smoking.
WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise
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