Scottish Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) screening programme statistics
Year ending 31 March 2022

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides an annual update on the Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) screening programme in Scotland. This programme aims to reduce the number of deaths caused by abdominal aneurysms in men aged 65 and over.

On 30 March 2020 the Scottish Government announced the temporary pause of the national screening programmes in Scotland, including AAA screening, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first AAA screening clinics resumed at the end of July 2020 and by September 2020 all local NHS Board programmes were having regular clinics. NHS Boards have not yet returned to pre-pandemic performance levels against certain KPIs.  

Main points

Data for men reaching age 66 in the year ending 31 March 2022:

• Only 76.2% of men were invited for screening before their 66th birthday (the KPI timescale for the invitation), compared with 90.5% in the previous year, and 97.4% before the pandemic.

Outline of 10 male figures, with 7.2 of them shaded in to represent that just over 7 in 10 men eligible for routine abdominal aortic aneurysm screening were tested in 2021/22 in Scotland (72.6% coverage).

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• Similarly, only 72.6% of all men eligible for screening were tested before age 66 and 3 months (the KPI timescale for screening), compared with 78.0% to March 2021, and 84.4% pre-pandemic.
• Coverage of screening was lower in more deprived areas (most deprived 63.7%; least deprived 80.2%). The inequality gap in coverage was higher than in previous years (13.9 and 12.0 percentage points to March 2021 and to March 2020, respectively).

Scans and vascular referrals in the year ending 31 March 2022:

• The total number of initial and surveillance scans completed in the year ending 31 March 2022 was 33,422 (recovering from 16,148 in the previous year, and 29,582 pre-pandemic).
• A large aneurysm was detected in 122 men resulting in a referral to vascular specialist services. The majority of men were seen by a vascular specialist within two weeks (87.7%).
• Twelve of 81 men (14.8%) deemed appropriate for AAA repair surgery were operated on within eight weeks compared to 19.3% of men in the previous year.

Background

An Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm is a swelling of the aorta, the main artery in the body, as it passes through the abdomen. The condition is most common in men aged 65 and over and usually there are no symptoms. Large aneurysms are uncommon but can be very serious. As the wall of the aorta stretches, it becomes weaker, and it can rupture (burst). If the aneurysm ruptures, this leads to life-threatening internal bleeding and, in 8 out of 10 cases, death.

Men aged 65 are sent an invitation to attend screening. Men over 65 years of age, who have not been screened previously, can self-refer into the screening programme. The test is a simple ultrasound scan of the abdomen. Most men have a normal result and are discharged from the screening programme. Men with detected small or medium aneurysms are invited for regular surveillance scans to monitor the size of the aneurysm. Men with large aneurysms are at high risk of aneurysm rupture and are referred to vascular specialist services for assessment and to discuss treatment options.

The screening coverage rates includes scans completed over of a period of two years and three months. This reflects the time between the first (youngest) men in the eligible cohort reaching age 65 (and becoming eligible for initial screening) and the last (oldest) men in the cohort reaching age 66 and 3 months, the target timescale for screening.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be in March 2024.