Why the study?
To evaluate whether population-based ultrasound screening for AAA achieves its objective of reducing AAA-related deaths and whether it is cost-effective.
Does population-based ultrasound screening for AAA reduce AAA-related deaths and is it cost-effective?
Does population-based ultrasound screening for AAA reduce AAA-related deaths and is it cost-effective?
This literature review evaluates whether population-based ultrasound screening for abdominal aortic aneurysms at age 65 reduces AAA-related mortality and is cost-effective.
Declining AAA prevalence may lower screening yield in Europe; leaves open refined risk models for targeted surveillance.
In Europe, the prevalence of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) in the elderly population (≥65 year old) has declined in the past decades to <4%. Aneurysmal degeneration of the aorta is a serious and potentially life-threatening vascular disease. Abdominal aortic aneurysms typically develop subclinically and often only become symptomatic when complicated by impending rupture. Most AAAs are discovered incidentally while investigating for an unrelated pathology. Ruptured AAA is the tenth leading cause of death in Belgium (0.32% of all deaths in 2014). Health-care providers have emphasized the importance of early detection of AAA and elective repair when the rupture risk outweighs operative risk (usual diameter threshold of 55 mm). Routine AAA screening programs, consisting of a single abdominal ultrasonography at the age of 65 years, aim to reduce the number of AAA-related deaths. Does population-based ultrasound screening for AAA achieve its objective and is it cost-effective? This literature review tries to answer these challenging questions.
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Sprynger et al. (2019) studied this question.
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