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Originally Posted by Hey Connor, It's Mess
Why are so many athletes getting blood clots these days? Better detection/diagnosis or something else?
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Diagnosis has never really been a huge issue as they have pretty cardinal signs and symptoms, are generally easily detectable with doppler ultrasound, and don't just go away on their own.
As mentioned, a controversial reason may be blood doping or hormone use. Taking EPO to increase your production of red blood cells to increase your aerobic capacity will increase your risk, ie you'll have "thicker blood" to put it simply. Though that's easily detectable so maybe not the best example. Other hormone therapy can increase risk (an easy example is birth control).
A less controversial answer could be plane travel due to pressure changes and being sedentary during.
But there's no doubt that high level athletes are over represented when it comes to blood clots.