Chile Bariatric Surgery Market Trends

Closure devices are used for reconnecting tissues during surgical procedures and for closing incisions made by trocars. The laparoscopic port closure device successfully and safely closes port sites in obese patients undergoing bariatric procedures and surgeries. The closure devices segment is expected to register high growth, as they are widely used in minimally invasive surgeries that require immediate closure of very small incisions made at the time of surgical procedures.

The factors that are driving the growth of this segment are the high incidence of obesity cases in the country. For instance, United Nations Children's Fund Chile factsheet 2021, reported that Chilean children are mostly developing in obesogenic food environments. Also, this factsheet reported that Chile is one of the countries with the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity in the world. At the national level, 75% of adults, 33.5 % of children, and adolescents aged 5-19 years have excess weight (overweight and obesity) and 9.8 % of young children under the age of 5 are overweight. Thus the high incidence of obesity in Chile is driving the demand for surgery, which accounts for the increasing demand for closure devices, thereby driving the growth of this segment.

Similarly, an article titled, "Women's access to health care: Gaps that the future health care reform in Chile must solve" published in November 2021 reported that in Chile, morbid obesity and obesity are higher in women than in men (4.7% versus 1.7%, and 33.7% versus 28.6%, respectively). The article also quoted the bariatric surgery program of the National Health Fund, of which 85.4% of the bariatric surgeries in this program benefited women in Chile. Almost a decade of implementation of this program, provided access mainly to lower-income beneficiaries in the bracket, with more than 9000 surgeries being performed in the last five years in the country. Thus, bariatric surgery procedures are growing in the country, which is driving the demand for closure devices, thereby driving the growth of this segment.

Furthermore, government initiatives is also fueling the growth of this segment. For instance, United Nations Children's Fund Chile factsheet 2021, reported that the prevention of childhood overweight included equipping food; health; water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); education; social protection, and urban systems. In addition, the Chilean government also revised the policies to take care of obese patients by equipping the and mandating proper operational policies needed for the planning, assessment, and management of the manual handling risks for the care and treatment of bariatric patients. Thus, all these government initiatives to curb obesity are making people aware and thus, more people in the country are undergoing bariatric surgery, thereby fueling the growth of this closure devices.

Therefore, the high burden of obesity in the country is expected to increase in bariatric surgeries in the coming years, which will contribute to the growth of this segment.