Hospital Based Screening of 65–73 Year Old Men for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms in the County of Viborg,Denmark

Abstract

Objective—

To analyse the benefits of screening older men for abdominal aortic aneurysms.

Methods—

A hospital based screening trial concerning 13 500 65–73 year old men using B—mode ultrasonographic scanning. To improve the response rate the invited men could change their appointment, and non—responders were reinvited.

Results—

Results from the first year of the trial are presented. Among 4404 invited, 3344 (76%) were scanned. The primary response rate was 64.8%, but a further 11.2% were scanned after revised appointments or reinvitation. The whole infrarenal aorta could be visualised in 97.6%, and the distal part in 99.7% of the scans. The time taken for each scan was 9.7 minutes and the costs per scan were ·9.50. One hundred and fifty three subjects (4.6%) had aortic diameters of 25.29 mm, and 141 (4.2%) had an abdominal aortic aneurysm, 19 (0.6%) above 49 mm in diameter.

Conclusion—

In Denmark the short term costs and benefits of screening older men for abdominal aortic aneurysms seem realistic. Long term costs and benefits need to be investigated.