Scottish Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) screening programme statistics
Year ending 31 March 2025

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.

Main points

Data for men reaching age 66 in the year ending 31 March 2025 (the eligible population):

• Invitation timeliness continued to improve: 95.6% of all 35,947 eligible men were invited for screening before their 66th birthday (the target timescale), up from 85.0% in the year ending 31 March 2024 and 74.1% in the year ending 31 March 2023. This compares with 97.4% pre-pandemic (year ending 31 March 2020).
• Coverage also improved: 84.8% of all men eligible for screening were tested before age 66 and 3 months (the target timescale for screening), compared with 77.3% and 70.7% in the years ending 31 March 2024 and 31 March 2023, respectively. This was 82.8% pre-pandemic (year ending 31 March 2020).

Infographic showing that more than 8 in 10 eligible men were screened for abdominal aortic aneurysm.

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• All areas saw an increase in the percentage of eligible men screened within the target timescale compared with the year ending 31 March 2024. However, men living in the most deprived areas were less likely to be screened within the target timescale than those in the least deprived areas (most deprived 77.5%; least deprived 90.1%). Deprivation was measured using the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, which ranks all geographic areas of Scotland from most to least deprived (further information on SIMD is available on the PHS website). The inequality gap (12.6 percentage points) was slightly larger than that seen before the pandemic 31 March 2020 (12.0 percentage points).

Scans and vascular referrals in the year ending 31 March 2025:

• The total number of initial and surveillance scans completed in the year ending 31 March 2025 was 35,144.
• A large aneurysm was detected in 95 men (initial and surveillance scans), resulting in a referral to vascular specialist services. The majority of men were seen by a vascular specialist within two weeks (90.5%). This was similar to the previous two years (89.2% and 89.3%) and met the essential target of 80%. Pre-pandemic this was 96.6%. 
• 16 of 65 men (24.6%) deemed appropriate for AAA repair surgery were operated on within eight weeks. This has been an improvement on the two previous years (18.4% and 14.3%). However, pre-pandemic this was at 50.6%.

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.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be March 2027.