One hundred and thirteen consecutive Japanese patients with deep venous thrombosis (DVT) were studied for the incidences of antithrombin III (AT-III), protein C (PC) and protein S (PS) deficiencies, and the results were compared with those of normal subjects. Ten of the 392 normal Japanese subjects were found with PS deficiency (n = 8, 2.02%) or PC deficiency (n = 2, 0.5%). PS deficiencies comprised type I (1/8, 12.5%), type 11 (4/8, 50%), and type III (3/8, 37.5%). All PC deficiencies were type I. Among patients with DVT, 32 (28.3%) were deficient in AT-III, PC and PS. These patients consisted of two AT-III deficiency (1.77%), nine PC deficiency (7.96%), 20 PS deficiency (17.7%), and one combined deficiency of PC and PS (0.88%). Both of the patients with AT-III deficiency were classified as type II, all those with PC deficiency as type I, and those with PS deficiency as type I in 25% (5/20), type II in 55% (11/20) and type III in 20% (4/20). The frequency of PC and PS deficiencies in patients with DVT were 15.6 and 7.38 times the control population frequency, respectively, and this difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). These data suggest that the Japanese population has a high frequency of PC and PS deficiencies. We recommend that PS activity should be measured for screening of thrombosis since type II deficiency accounted for approximately 50% of PS deficiency cases in both patients and the normal group in the Japanese.