Abdominal aortic aneurysm screening attendance: Effect of removing the examination fee

Objectives The organized population-based screening programme for abdominal aortic aneurysm in Stockholm, Sweden, started in 2010. An examination fee was initially charged, but later removed because of a policy change. We examined the effect on screening attendance of removing the fee. Methods The periods before and after removing the examination fee were compared with regard to screening attendance, overall, by municipality and by district. Results Screening attendance was 79.2% in the period with an examination fee and 79.9% in the period without an examination fee (p = 0.1787), with no significant change in screening attendance between the periods. Conclusions Although removing examination fees has been shown to have a positive impact on attendance in other screening programmes, we did not find this association in our study.