Abdominal aortic aneurysms : diagnosis and epidemiology : the Tromsø Study

Abstract

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a relatively common, potentially life-threatening condition roughly accounting for one percent of all the deaths in the western world. Abdominal aortic aneurysms are usually asymptomatic until rupture. Death from rupture is often sudden and the disease is prone to be misclassified as death from cardiac arrest. Since the introduction of surgical repair of AAA by Dubost and colleagues in 1952, interest in the epidemiology of AAAs has increased. Early epidemiological studies were primarily based on hospital records and autopsies. An increasing number of screening studies of AAA have been conducted and published subsequent to the introduction of ultrasound in medical diagnosis in the 1970s. <br> Already in 1828 Cooper found that AAA is fourfold as common in men as compared to women. Later studies have reported similar results. The mean age of women with AAA is approximately 10 years higher than in men. Consequently, most of the screening studies have been conducted in men over 65 years.