Epidemiological profile of surgical treatment of varicose veins in Brazil from 2010 to 2020

BACKGROUND: Varicose veins have become more common over recent years and in the most serious cases surgical treatment is necessary to resolve patients’ clinical status. Despite their importance, there are no epidemiological studies that cover the whole of Brazil, showing how surgery to correct varicose veins conducted by the Unified Health System (SUS) is distributed in the country. OBJECTIVES: To describe the ecological profile of surgical treatment to correct varicose veins in Brazil from 2010 to 2020. METHODS: This is a descriptive-analytical study of data obtained from the SUS Hospital Information System. These data were tabulated and categorized by state, region, type of procedure, and year. BioEstat 5.3 was used to conduct chi-square statistical tests with a 95% confidence interval and significance cutoff of p <0.05. RESULTS: From 2010 to 2020, 755,752 surgical operations to treat varicose veins were conducted; 292,538 were unilateral (38.71%) and 463,214 (61.29%) were bilateral. Of these, 418,791 (55.41%) procedures were performed in the Southeast region, followed by 180,689 (23.91%) in the South region. A total of 40 deaths were registered in connection with these procedures during the period, 26 of which (65%) were associated with bilateral surgery and the majority of which occurred in the Southeast (24 deaths). CONCLUSIONS: It was observed that the majority of procedures are performed in the Southeast and South regions, and that bilateral elective surgery is the most prevalent.