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 nonresponders 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 25-29mm, and 141 (4.2%) had an abdominal aortic aneurysm, 19 (0.6%) above 49mm 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.