Prevalence of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Associated with Hypertension in an Urban Population

Setting and method– Since 1989 13 000 invitations to screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm have been offered to men aged 60 to 7 5 living within the Birmingham conurbation. Results– The overall attendance was 76·1% (52–99%). The prevalence of aneurysms greater than 29 mm in the whole male population aged 60 to 75 was 7·2%. For those aged 60 to 64 the prevalence was 3·8%. For those aged between 60 and 64 with hypertension, however, the prevalence of abdominal aortic aneurysm was 7·7%. The relative risk of hypertension associated with aneurysm disease is 2·7. Conclusion– This paper suggests that all men over 65 should be screened for aortic aneurysm, but that those men over 60 with hypertension should be added to the screened cohort.