Introduction: Pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum time are physiological periods in woman's fertility age, all connected in a whole. In pregnancy, the female body adapts to allow the child to coexist. For that to happen, a lot of physiological changes are needed, which we do not consider as an illness. All of those changes can cause different venous disorders, such as feeling discomfort, pain and edema in the lower limbs, development of varices and thromboembolic complications. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to gather and present information about wearing compression stockings in pregnancy. Methods: In the thesis, we used a critical review of the domestic and foreign professional literature as the basic instrument for the data collection. We used a descriptive method. We searched various databases, such as PubMed, Medline and CINAHL, and we included freely accessible articles. The criteria for the inclusion of the literature were: full text availability, researches involving humans and articles, published between 1995 and 2016 in Slovenian and English language. Results: By wearing compression stockings, the function of the venous pump improved and the filling time was prolonged. An ultrasound examination showed an increased rate of blood flow in a surface thigh vein. The results show that regular wearing compression stockings improves vein hemodynamics of the legs and reduces the incidence of thromboembolic complications during pregnancy and postpartum. Discussion and conclusion: Studies have shown that compression stockings have improved the venous flow of the leg during pregnancy, thus preventing thrombosis in women with high-risk pregnancy. We found, that daily use of compression stockings has a beneficial effect on the unpleasant sensations in the legs, and also that the pregnant women are accepting the compression therapy well.
Keywords: swelling, gestation, veins and blood pressure.
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