2010 Academic Paper Shows Current AAA Screening Recommendations Are Woefully Inadequate

admin - August 1, 2011

Life Line Screening Chief Medical Officer, Andrew Manganaro, MD, is the co-author of a 2010 academic paper, Development of a Novel Scoring Tool for the Identification of Large ≥5 cm Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms. This paper finds current screening recommendations are woefully inadequate. The distressing findings: Only 35% of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) found are among males ages 65-75, while 50% are outside of that patient group.

Lead authors of this paper are independent doctors and scientists from the prestigious Mount Sinai School of Medicine in NY. The paper uses data from Life Line Screening, which was collected from 3.1 million people who had an AAA ultrasound screening between 2003 and 2008.

The results of the data studied determined that “smoking had a profound influence on the risk of AAA, which increased with number of cigarettes smoked and years of smoking, and decreased following smoking cessation.”

Other findings include:

• Exercise reduces risk of AAA
• Maintaining a normal weight reduces risk of AAA
• Black and Hispanics are less likely to have AAA

Based on findings, the study provides a better screening strategy, or a better scoring tool, to identify those individuals who are at risk for abdominal aortic aneurysm from a broader population. And, it proves to be another reason to be proactive about your own health.

Read the paper at PubMed.gov: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20881774

Find out more about abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Have you had your screening?

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