Background: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) rupture has a high mortality. Four randomised controlled trials indicate significant mortality benefit from population screening for AAA. There is a lack of information on the epidemiology and burden of AAA disease in New Zealand, necessary to support policy in this area.
Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on a dataset consisting of all AAA deaths and all hospital discharges with a AAA diagnosis between 2002 and 2006. Analysis by age, sex, ethnicity, and operative status was performed.
Results: On average, there were 267 elective repairs and 87 emergency repairs annually between 2002 and 2006. The operative mortality rate was 35.2% for emergency repair, and 6.7% for elective repair. There were about 236 known AAA-related deaths annually. Ninety-four percent of AAA deaths between 2002-2006 occurred in individuals >65 years. The case fatality for females was higher than males across every age group. The standardised mortality rate in Maori was twice as high as New Zealand Europeans.
Conclusions: This study provides essential information to evaluate the appropriateness and feasibility of AAA screening here. A population-based prevalence study is recommended, along with further investigation of high case fatality in females and high mortality in Maori.