Epidemiology of 869,220 varicose vein surgeries over 12 years in Brazil: trends, costs and mortality rate.

Background: Varicose vein surgeries are the most commonly performed vascular procedure to treat the most prevalent vascular disease, chronic venous disease. However, nationwide studies on the epidemiology of varicose vein surgeries are scarce, none in developing countries. Therefore, we designed this study to assess the total number of varicose vein surgeries performed between 2008 and 2019 in the Public Health System, which exclusively insures more than 160 million Brazilians, their trends, costs and mortality rates.
Methods: Public and open data referring to all surgeries to treat chronic venous disease between 2008 and 2019 were extracted from the Brazilian Ministry of Health database.
Results: A total of 869,220 surgeries were performed to treat chronic venous disease in Brazilian public hospitals and outpatient clinics, with an average rate of 4.5 surgeries per 10,000 inhabitants per year. Starting in 2015, we observed a slight non-significant downward trend in the total number of procedures. The total amount reimbursed by the government was US$ 232,775,518.11. A total of 49 deaths were reported after varicose vein surgery, corresponding to a mortality rate of 0.0056%.
Conclusions: A total of 869,220 surgeries were performed to treat chronic venous disease over twelve years, with an overall rate of 4.52 procedures per 10,000 population per year. The mortality rate was very low, 0.0056%.
(Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.)