Chinese teen hospitalized with deep‑vein thrombosis after prolonged phone use

An 18‑year‑old male student in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, China, was admitted to hospital with a deep‑vein thrombosis (DVT) in his right leg after spending more than five hours each day lying on a bed or sofa using his phone and playing games following his university‑entrance exams. The swelling and severe pain in his calf worsened over two weeks, leading to emergency treatment.

Doctors said the primary trigger was prolonged immobility, which slows blood flow in the leg veins and can cause clot formation, especially in individuals with a hereditary tendency to clotting. They noted that DVT is no longer limited to older patients and can arise from sedentary behavior such as extended screen time. The U.S. CDC reports that venous thromboembolism affects about 900,000 people annually, causing 60,000‑100,000 deaths, underscoring the broader public‑health risk of prolonged inactivity.