A comparative study of the prevalence of abdominal aortic aneurysms in the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Australia

Abstract

Objectives: To compare attendance and prevalence of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in population based randomised trials of sonographic screening in the United Kingdom, Western Australia, and Denmark.

Methods: 65,290 men were randomised to screening in the four trials, and data were collected and analysed from 46,397 aortic scans for men aged between 64 and 83 years who attended one of four community screening programmes. Comparisons were made for age standardised populations (65-74 years).

Results: Age standardised attendance varied between 74% and 81%, and was highest in the United Kingdom and lowest in Western Australia. Age standardised prevalence of AAAs of 3.0 cm or more varied significantly between 4.5% and 7.7%, and was highest in the United Kingdom and lowest in Denmark.

Conclusions: Participation in the four programmes compares favourably with other reported screening studies. The possibility that variations may reflect the different recruitment methods used is discussed. The prevalence of AAA in central Denmark would appear to be significantly different from that in southern England and Western Australia.