NHS AAA Screening Programme data linkage with HES and ONS Datasets
Research type
Research Study
Full title
National Health Service Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening Programme data linkage with Hospital Episode Statistics and Office for National Statistics Datasets
IRAS ID
240485
Contact name
David Sidloff
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leicester
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
An abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a dilation of the aorta, defined as an aortic diameter of ≥3cm. It is a significant cause of death internationally and in England each year causes c.4,000 deaths with 8,000 patients undergoing preventative surgery. AAA are often asymptomatic and there is a latent period between development and rupture. This represents an opportunity to screen by ultrasound which has been shown in trials to reduce AAA related mortality by half.
In England this evidence is based on a randomised trial data from the late nineties, however, since these data were published the number of men identified with AAA has fallen to a current prevalence of just over 1%. Furthermore, similarly designed randomised trials in Western Australia demonstrated no meaningful differences in AAA or cardiovascular deaths. The first aim of our research is to follow men who have been screened for AAA in England in order to establish the medium (5 years) and long term (10+ years) impact of AAA screening on the risk of a AAA, cardiovascular and all-cause morbidity/mortality in a non-trial setting. We will also examine men with sub-aneurysms (Aorta=2.5-2.9cm) as several studies suggest this group is at risk of late rupture.
Secondly we will examine the role of patient pathways to improve uptake of the screening programme. Current data suggests that the most 'deprived' men in England are the least likely to turn up for screening but the most likely to have an abdominal aneurysm. We will examine outcomes in this group and the benefits of a new patient pathway to improve uptake nationally.
Lastly, several large studies have demonstrated that a larger aortic diameter may be associated with cardiovascular risk. The addition of aortic diameter to current risk prediction models could improve the accuracy of these models and will be examined.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/EM/0081
Date of REC Opinion
15 Mar 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion