Conservative treatment effectiveness in chronic venous disease in the VEIN STEP observational study: Ukraine subset

BACKGROUND: The VEINSTEP study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of conservative treatment in reducing chronic venous disease (CVD) symptoms, signs, and improving quality of life in real-world settings.METHODS: The study enrolled 6236 adult outpatients globally, including 496 (8%) from Ukraine, seeking treatment for symptomatic CVD and receiving conservative therapy in routine practice. Symptom severity was measured using a 10-cm Visual Analog Scale (VAS, 4-point scale) and Patient Global Impression of Change (PGIC); signs were assessed with the Venous Clinical Severity Score (VCSS). Quality of life was estimated using the 14-item Chronic Venous Insufficiency Questionnaire (CIVIQ-14). Follow-up visits occurred at weeks 2 and 4, with an optional visit at week 8.RESULTS: The analysis included 485 participants from Ukraine (62% female), aged 52.1±14.1 years, with a BMI of 27.5±4.6 kg/m2. The predominant CEAP classifications were C1 (15.5%), C2 (44.3%), and C3 (21.6%). Conservative therapy primarily comprised oral venoactive drugs (VADs, 97.5% of subjects), mainly micronized purified flavonoid fraction (MPFF, 81.8%), compression (79.8%), and topicals (40.0%). Conservative treatment, particularly MPFF, significantly improved global symptoms (pain, leg heaviness, cramps, swelling sensation), with 76.5% of patients reporting improvement by week 2 and 95% of patients reporting improvement by week 4. There was a notable reduction in global symptom severity (VAS) between weeks 0 and 4: -1.64±1.31 (P