Prevalence of aortic abdominal aneurysm (AAA) in a hypertensive out-patient population

Aim of this work is to evaluate the prevalence of aortic abdominal aneurysm in a population with high risk of hypertension attending our Hypertension Ambulatory, in comparison with a normotensive group of patients examined in our other Out-Patient departments. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A group of 118 hypertensive patients, age ranging from 50 to 82 (mean, 69.09 years) were submitted to ultrasonic scan (US scan) of the abdominal aorta. Criteria for selection were age and diagnosis of essential arterial hypertension. A minority of patients had isolated systolic hypertension. Patients with border-line values not on drug therapy were excluded. A homogenous control group of 118 patients who had undergone US-scan for other indications was chosen, matched for sex and age. An Ansaldo AU 590 B-Mode real time ultrasonograph with a 3.5 Megahertz probe was employed. The US-scan was accomplished by two radiologists unaware of the hypertensive condition of the patients. RESULTS: Out of the 118 hypertensive patients AAA was found in 14 (11.86% of cases) and only in 3 (2.54%) control group patients. The difference was statistically significant. All patients with AAA were over 62-years of age, with marked difference between sexes: males being more affected than females. In 92% of cases AAA was not palpable and would have remained undetected. CONCLUSIONS: The very high prevalence of AAA in over-sixty hypertensive males, added to the well known prognostic benefit of an early diagnosis, suggests that routine abdominal ultrasonography is worthwhile as a screening procedure in this subgroup of patients. REFERENCES: 1. Frame et al. Ann Intern Med. 1993;119:411-416. 2. Ernst. N Engl J Med 1993;328:1167-72.