Epidemiology of Endovascular and Open Repair for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms in the United States from 2004-2015 and Implications for Screening.

Abstract Introduction Contemporary national trends in repair of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms and intact abdominal aortic aneurysms are relatively unknown. Furthermore, screening is only covered for patient’s 65 to 75 years old with a family history or men with a smoking history. It is unclear what proportion of patients who present with a ruptured aneurysm would have been candidates for screening. Methods Using the National Inpatient Sample from 2004 to 2015, we identified rupture and intact AAA admissions and repairs based on International Classification of Diseases codes. We generated the screening eligible cohort using previously identified proportions of male smokers (87%) and all patients with a family history of aneurysm (10%) and applied these proportions to patients aged 65-75. We accounted for those who may have had a prior AAA diagnosis (17%) either from screening or incidental detection in patients over age 75 presenting with rupture. The primary outcomes were treatment and in-hospital mortality stratified by patients meeting criteria for screening versus those who did not. Results We evaluated 65,125 admissions for ruptured AAA and 461,191 repairs for intact AAA. Overall, an estimated 45,037 (68%) of patients admitted and 25,777 (59%) of patients undergoing repair for ruptured AAA did not meet criteria for screening. Of the patients who did not qualify; 27,653 (63%) were older than 75 years old; 10,603 (24%) were younger than 65 years old; and 16,103 (36%) were females. EVAR use increased for ruptured AAA from 10% in 2004 to 55% in 2015 (P Conclusions The majority of patients who underwent repair for ruptured AAA did not qualify for screening. EVAR is the primary treatment for both ruptured AAA and intact AAA with a relatively low in-hospital mortality. Therefore, expansion of screening criteria to include selected women and a wider age range should be considered.