[Abdominal aortic aneurysm ultrasound screening in men with risk factors in Primary Care].

OBJECTIVE

to describe the implantation of ultrasound screening for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) in our healthcare district in men from 65 to 79 years of age who have had an identifiable risk factor for developing AAA, such as smoking or a history thereof, hypertension, family history of aneurysms, aneurysms in other locations and clinical atherosclerosis, acute myocardial infarction, intermittent claudication, or stroke. Analyse the performance of said screening.

SETTING

Primary Care.

PARTICIPANTS AND INTERVENTIONS

656 patients were screened, representing 40% of the target population of 1,658 patients. The remaining part of the target population could not be screened because of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. 608 ultrasound examinations were performed.

MAIN MEASUREMENTS

coverage of the screening programme, prevalence of abdominal aortic aneurysms, prevalence of smoking and other risk factors in patients with/without aneurysms.

RESULTS

19 patients with ectatic aorta (25-29mm) and 11 with abdominal aortic aneurysms (1.81%) were found. 5 were active smokers (45%, compared to 20% in the entire sample) and 6 were former smokers. None of the aneurysm patients were non-smokers. 7 of them were hypertensive.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of aneurysms in our sample was 2.6%, which was lower than expected. The wide use of ultrasound and its progressive generalisation in the Primary Care setting should lead to a decrease in the number of undiagnosed AAA.