Research and analysis

Supplementary data tables

Published 6 May 2025

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/aaa-screening-programmes-in-the-uk-10-year-effectiveness-review/supplementary-data-tables

These supplementary data tables provide annual data covering the 10 years examined in the accompanying AAA programme effectiveness review, by either screening year (1 April to 31 March) or calendar year (1 January to 31 December).

Definitions: coverage, uptake and non-visualised screens

England

Uptake: the number of eligible cohort men offered screening who had a conclusive screen result within the screening year plus an additional 2 months.

Coverage: the number of eligible cohort men who had a conclusive screen result within the screening year plus an additional 2 months.

Non-visualised screens: the proportion of initial screens where the aorta could not be visualised.

Wales

Uptake: the number of eligible cohort men offered screening who had a conclusive screen result within the screening year plus an additional 3 months.

Coverage - data not collected

Non-visualised screens: the proportion of completed appointments where the abdominal aorta was not seen.

Scotland

Uptake (for the purposes of this report): the proportion of men offered screening before age 66 who are tested before age 66 and 3 months.

Coverage:

  • up until the financial year ending in 2021: the proportion of the eligible population offered screening who are tested before reaching age 66 and 3 months
  • from 1 April 2022 to the present: the proportion of the eligible population who are tested and turn 66 in the reported financial year

Non-visualised screens: the proportion of screening encounters where the aorta could not be visualised (includes initial and surveillance screens), regardless of whether the individual being screened was discharged or not from the programme.

Northern Ireland

Uptake:

  • between screening years 2013 to 2014 and 2018 to 2019: the proportion of men offered screening who have had a conclusive scan result within the screening year plus an additional 3 months
  • between screening years 2019 to 2020 and 2022 to 2023: the proportion of eligible men offered screening who have had a conclusive scan result

Coverage: the proportion of eligible men who have had a conclusive scan result within the screening year plus an additional 3 months.

Non-visualised screens: the proportion of screening encounters where the aorta could not be visualised (includes initial and surveillance screens).

Annual data: eligible population, invitations, coverage and uptake

Table A1: Number of men eligible for AAA screening by screening year and country

Year England Scotland Northern Ireland
2013 to 2014 304,492 72,237 9,238
2014 to 2015 294,249 30,025 9,281
2015 to 2016 284,971 30,560 9,336
2016 to 2017 282,357 30,305 8,961
2017 to 2018 285,693 30,147 9,442
2018 to 2019 292,875 30,550 9,731
2019 to 2020 291,904 31,506 9,785
2020 to 2021 298,034 31,473 10,110
2021 to 2022 309,439 32,693 10,233
2022 to 2023 324,555 33,977 10,943

In Table A1, Wales is not include as it does not measure eligible men. Scotland offered screening to 2 years’ worth of men in screening year 2013 to 2014.

Table A2: Number of men invited for AAA screening by UK country

Year England Wales Scotland Northern Ireland
2013 to 2014 300,889 22,960 72,232 9,108
2014 to 2015 293,779 20,685 25,659 9,159
2015 to 2016 284,583 17,087 29,650 9,333
2016 to 2017 281,965 17,140 30,286 8,949
2017 to 2018 284,116 16,668 30,130 9,438
2018 to 2019 292,631 16,487 30,467 9,728
2019 to 2020 288,429 17,045 30,683 9,655
2020 to 2021 210,789 7,209 28,498 10,107
2021 to 2022 274,816 19,428 24,911 10,222
2022 to 2023 314,865 26,068 24,167 10,911

Table A3: Coverage of the initial screen in eligible cohort men by UK country

Year England Scotland Northern Ireland
2013 to 2014 77.3 85.7 80.8
2014 to 2015 79.3 72.0 81.9
2015 to 2016 79.8 81.5 83.2
2016 to 2017 80.9 84.4 84.0
2017 to 2018 80.5 84.5 83.3
2018 to 2019 81.3 84.4 85.1
2019 to 2020 76.1 82.8 68.6
2020 to 2021 55.0 75.5 15.5
2021 to 2022 70.2 64.4 14.3
2022 to 2023 78.4 62.6 70.3

In Table A3, Wales is not included as it does not measure coverage. The COVID-19 pandemic affected services in screening years 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021.

In Northern Ireland, coverage was significantly impacted following the pandemic. Initial screening was paused for 11 months and there was a significant catch-up period.

The coverage measure for Scotland changed in 2021 from the proportion of men offered a screen who were tested before reaching age 66 and 3 months to the number of men eligible for a screen who were tested before reaching age 66 and 3 months.

Table A4: Uptake of the initial screen by eligible cohort men invited to screening, by screening year and country

Year England Wales Scotland Northern Ireland
2013 to 2014 78.2 74.1 85.8 81.9
2014 to 2015 79.5 74.4 84.3 83.0
2015 to 2016 80.0 79.1 84.0 83.3
2016 to 2017 81.1 80.8 84.4 84.1
2017 to 2018 80.9 79.2 84.5 83.3
2018 to 2019 81.4 80.8 84.7 85.1
2019 to 2020 77.0 71.9 85.1 84.2
2020 to 2021 77.8 84.6 83.3 85.4
2021 to 2022 79.0 82.8 84.6 78.8
2022 to 2023 80.8 77.6 84.5 79.9

Figure A1: Coverage of the initial screen by UK country

The graph in Figure A1 shows that coverage of the initial screen in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland was about 80% between the screening years 2013 to 2014 and 2018 to 2019. Coverage dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, most notably in Northern Ireland due to smaller numbers. Wales does not measure coverage.

Figure A2: Uptake of the initial screen UK country

The graph in Figure A2 shows that uptake of the initial screen in all 4 nations remained consistent between 2013 and 2023. Uptake dropped slightly during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Wales was the most affected, with a drop of 10%.

Non-visualised screens

For screening to be effective, the screening test needs to be reliable. For AAA screening, the proportion of screens where the aorta cannot be visualised (a non-visualised screen) is how that is measured. A screen may not be visualised due to a combination of the following factors:

  • The amount of fat and/or gas in the man’s abdomen
  • If the man can lie flat
  • The age and state of the ultrasound scanner
  • The skill of the technician

Table A5: Proportion of scans that result in non-visualised aorta by UK country

Year England Wales Scotland Northern Ireland
2013 to 2014 1.54 1.96 Data unavailable 3.68
2014 to 2015 1.31 1.37 1.13 3.71
2015 to 2016 1.38 1.02 1.50 1.90
2016 to 2017 1.23 0.94 1.97 1.24
2017 to 2018 1.23 1.15 3.59 1.18
2018 to 2019 1.20 1.15 4.18 1.27
2019 to 2020 1.14 1.18 4.80 1.12
2020 to 2021 1.13 1.25 2.58 0.43
2021 to 2022 0.98 1.10 3.21 1.05
2022 to 2023 1.00 0.76 3.21 0.98

In Table A5, Wales data includes self-referrals and Northern Ireland data includes initial and surveillance scans.

Prevalence of AAA

Table A6: Prevalence of aneurysms in screened men by UK country

Year England Wales Scotland Northern Ireland
2013 to 2014 1.25 1.29 1.51 1.67
2014 to 2015 1.19 1.31 1.38 1.54
2015 to 2016 1.12 1.22 1.45 1.85
2016 to 2017 1.08 1.03 1.37 1.28
2017 to 2018 1.01 1.22 1.27 1.26
2018 to 2019 0.97 1.00 1.16 1.26
2019 to 2020 0.92 0.90 1.19 1.02
2020 to 2021 0.94 1.10 1.19 1.20
2021 to 2022 0.83 0.85 1.02 1.23
2022 to 2023 0.76 0.91 1.07 1.14

In Table A6, Northern Ireland data includes self-referrals.

Smoking status

Figure A3: Proportion of men aged 60 and over that are smokers (England)

Source: Adult smoking habits, ONS

The graph in Figure A3 shows that the proportion of men aged 60 and over who are smokers in England declined between the year 2000 and 2021. In 2022, there was a slight increase in the proportion of smokers of approximately 1% from 2021.

Figure A4: Smoking status of men assessed by a nurse after an aneurysm is detected at screening (England)

The graph in Figure A4 shows how the majority of men assessed by a nurse after an aneurysm is detected at screening in England are either former smokers or current smokers. The proportion of men in each category remained consistent between 2013 and 2023 with approximately 32% of men assessed categorised as current smokers, 58% as former smokers and 10% as never smokers.

Surveillance uptake and coverage

Men with small (3.0cm to 4.4cm) aneurysms are offered annual surveillance scans and men with medium aneurysms (4.5cm to 5.4cm) are offered quarterly scans.

Figure A5: Uptake of the annual surveillance scan by UK country

Scotland does not measure uptake of the surveillance scan.

The graphs in Figure A5 shows how uptake of the annual surveillance scan remained consistently high at above 80% in England, Wales and Northern Ireland between 2013 to 2023, apart from in 2020 to 2021 during the COVID19 pandemic when a dip in uptake can be seen in all 3 nations. There is a greater decrease in uptake seen in Wales during this time.

Figure A6: Uptake of the quarterly surveillance scan by UK country

Scotland does not measure uptake of the surveillance scan.

The graph in Figure A6 shows how the uptake of the quarterly surveillance scan remained consistently high above 80% in England, Wales and Northern Ireland between 2013 to 2023, apart from in 2020 to 2021 during the COVID19 pandemic when a dip in uptake can be seen in all 3 nations. There is a greater decrease in uptake seen in Wales during this time.

Figure A7: Coverage of the annual surveillance scan by UK country

Scotland does not measure coverage.

The graph in Figure A7 shows how the coverage of the annual surveillance scan remained consistently high above 80% in England, Wales and Northern Ireland between 2013 to 2023, apart from in 2020 to 2021 during the COVID19 pandemic when a dip in coverage can be seen in all 3 nations. There is a greater decrease in coverage seen in Wales during this time.

Figure A8: Coverage of the quarterly surveillance scan by UK country

Wales does not measure coverage of the quarterly surveillance scan.

The graph in Figure A8 shows how the coverage of the quarterly surveillance scan remained consistently high above 80% in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland between 2013 to 2023, apart from in 2020 to 2021 during the COVID19 pandemic when a dip in coverage can be seen in all 3 nations.

Hospital admissions or finished consultant episodes for ruptured AAA

The following tables show hospital admissions or finished consultant episodes by sex for ruptured AAA (rAAA) that use the ICD code I71.3.

Table A7: Finished consultant episodes for ruptured AAA in England (all ages)

Year Male Female Total
2011 to 2012 2,310 710 3,020
2012 to 2013 2,215 702 2,917
2013 to 2014 2,121 634 2,755
2014 to 2015 2,010 634 2,644
2015 to 2016 1,791 530 2,322
2016 to 2017 1,837 511 2,348
2017 to 2018 1,549 594 2,143
2018 to 2019 1,539 506 2,045
2019 to 2020 1,376 464 1,841
2020 to 2021 1,299 408 1,701
2021 to 2022 1,336 427 1,765
2022 to 2023 1,127 392 1,519

Table A8: Hospital admissions for ruptured AAA in Wales (all ages)

Year Male Female Total
2011 to 2012 103 32 135
2012 to 2013 96 43 139
2013 to 2014 138 34 172
2014 to 2015 124 28 152
2015 to 2016 121 30 151
2016 to 2017 103 43 146
2017 to 2018 90 29 119
2018 to 2019 79 27 106
2019 to 2020 76 28 104
2020 to 2021 55 31 86
2021 to 2022 78 20 98
2022 to 2023 44 19 63

Table A9: Hospital admissions for ruptured AAA in Scotland (people aged 60 and over)

Year Male Female Total
2011 to 2012 168 69 237
2012 to 2013 189 75 264
2013 to 2014 164 73 237
2014 to 2015 151 57 208
2015 to 2016 141 67 208
2016 to 2017 178 64 242
2017 to 2018 153 56 209
2018 to 2019 136 61 197
2019 to 2020 131 47 178
2020 to 2021 104 63 167
2021 to 2022 122 45 167
2022 to 2023 128 53 181

Table A10: Hospital admissions for ruptured AAA in Northern Ireland (all ages)

Year Male Female Total
2011 to 2012 446 158 604
2012 to 2013 567 166 733
2013 to 2014 594 184 778
2014 to 2015 468 146 614
2015 to 2016 471 164 635
2016 to 2017 449 152 601
2017 to 2018 421 139 560
2018 to 2019 544 129 673
2019 to 2020 452 139 591
2020 to 2021 300 87 387
2021 to 2022 380 148 528
2022 to 2023 403 126 529

The following tables show hospital admissions or finished consultant episodes by age for rAAA that use the ICD code I71.3.

Table A11: Finished consultant episodes for ruptured AAA in men by age group, England

Year 60 to 74 years 75 years and over Total (60 years and over)
2011 to 2012 928 2,032 2,960
2012 to 2013 963 1,891 2,854
2013 to 2014 880 1,826 2,706
2014 to 2015 790 1,791 2,581
2015 to 2016 668 1,590 2,258
2016 to 2017 635 1,625 2,260
2017 to 2018 588 1,490 2,078
2018 to 2019 556 1,418 1,974
2019 to 2020 473 1,318 1,791
2020 to 2021 387 1,258 1,645
2021 to 2022 403 1,298 1,701
2022 to 2023 338 1,127 1,465

Table A12: Finished consultant episodes for ruptured AAA in men by age group, Wales

Year 60 to 74 years 75 years and over Total (60 years and over)
2011 to 2012 41 76 117
2012 to 2013 38 61 99
2013 to 2014 43 87 130
2014 to 2015 54 72 126
2015 to 2016 52 73 125
2016 to 2017 45 53 98
2017 to 2018 23 63 86
2018 to 2019 28 43 71
2019 to 2020 25 50 75
2020 to 2021 20 34 54
2021 to 2022 26 51 77
2022 to 2023 11 32 43

Table A13: Finished consultant episodes for ruptured AAA in men by age group, Scotland

Year 60 to 74 years 75 years and over Total (60 years and over)
2011 to 2012 62 106 168
2012 to 2013 66 123 189
2013 to 2014 49 115 164
2014 to 2015 50 101 151
2015 to 2016 43 98 141
2016 to 2017 62 116 178
2017 to 2018 48 105 153
2018 to 2019 31 105 136
2019 to 2020 33 98 131
2020 to 2021 29 75 104
2021 to 2022 37 85 122
2022 to 2023 39 89 128

Table A14: Finished consultant episodes for ruptured AAA in men by age group, Northern Ireland

Year 60 to 74 years 75 years and over Total (60 years and over)
2011 to 2012 21 37 58
2012 to 2013 15 28 43
2013 to 2014 18 32 50
2014 to 2015 8 27 35
2015 to 2016 14 26 40
2016 to 2017 13 21 34
2017 to 2018 14 10 24
2018 to 2019 7 30 37
2019 to 2020 9 30 39
2020 to 2021 <5 18 <23
2021 to 2022 11 14 25
2022 to 2023 12 21 33

Elective and emergency AAA surgeries

Table A15: Number and proportion of men with a large aneurysm who have surgery within 2 months (8 weeks) of their last conclusive ultrasound

Year England n (%) Wales n (%) Scotland n (%) Northern Ireland n (%)
2013 to 2014 262 (45.6%) 4 (100.0%) Data unavailable 14 (93.3%)
2014 to 2015 299 (52.2%) 20 (100.0%) 22 (29.7%) 18 (85.7%)
2015 to 2016 354 (59.8%) 13 (100.0%) 20 (26.0%) 17 (89.5%)
2016 to 2017 353 (54.0%) 10 (29.4%) 24 (31.2%) 20 (83.3%)
2017 to 2018 363 (53.5%) 14 (41.2%) 29 (42.6%) 9 (60.0%)
2018 to 2019 392 (58.9%) 12 (32.4%) 32 (40.0%) 3 (10.0%)
2019 to 2020 304 (46.3%) 12 (30.0%) 44 (50.6%) 6 (21.4%)
2020 to 2021 158 (24.9%) 2 (7.7%) 11 (19.0%) 3 (12.0%)
2021 to 2022 200 (27.5%) 14 (31.1%) 12 (13.3%) 5 (14.3%)
2022 to 2023 244 (31.4%) 5 (10.6%) 11 (19.0%) 4 (10.5%)

Figure A9: Risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality rate for elective surgeries by method of repair, 2012 to 2022, UK (NVR data)

The graph in Figure A9 shows how the mortality rate for men undergoing elective AAA repair surgery remained consistent between 2012 and 2022 for each method of repair. The mortality rate for EVAR repairs was the lowest it has ever been in 2022 at below 0.5%, while OPEN repairs were at 3.0% in 2012 and 3.0% in 2022.

Table A16: Number of deaths in men undergoing non-ruptured (elective) AAA repairs by type of procedure, UK (NVR data)

Calendar year EVAR Open
2013 20 45
2014 39 55
2015 30 53
2016 27 43
2017 29 51
2018 19 45
2019 19 41
2020 16 30
2021 13 45
2022 13 42

Table A17: Number of deaths in men undergoing ruptured (emergency) AAA repairs by type of procedure, UK (NVR data)

Calendar year EVAR Open
2013 31 272
2014 67 296
2015 54 280
2016 71 244
2017 61 237
2018 36 190
2019 45 168
2020 38 141
2021 46 143
2022 31 125

Table A18: Circumstances of AAA related deaths in the screening cohort, England

Calendar year Death during surveillance Death following decision not to operate Death following referral Death following treatment (surgery) Death from rupture in patient who screened negative Not recorded
2013 to 2014 1 0 0 1 0 5
2014 to 2015 0 0 0 2 0 10
2015 to 2016 0 0 0 6 1 17
2016 to 2017 0 0 0 6 0 25
2017 to 2018 0 1 0 11 0 21
2018 to 2019 3 1 0 9 0 23
2019 to 2020 10 0 5 9 1 15
2020 to 2021 14 5 10 9 2 1
2021 to 2022 16 1 16 9 0 3
2022 to 2023 16 2 16 5 3 2

Table A19a: Proportion of all deaths in men aged 65 years and over that are due to ruptured AAA (ICD code I71.3) - 2001 to 2012

Calendar year England and Wales Scotland Northern Ireland
2001 1.46 Data unavailable Data unavailable
2002 1.44 Data unavailable Data unavailable
2003 1.45 Data unavailable Data unavailable
2004 1.47 Data unavailable Data unavailable
2005 1.38 Data unavailable Data unavailable
2006 1.40 Data unavailable Data unavailable
2007 1.28 Data unavailable Data unavailable
2008 1.28 0.91 0.99
2009 1.24 0.93 0.89
2010 1.24 0.96 0.62
2011 1.16 0.84 0.72
2012 1.09 0.92 0.72

In Table A19a, England and Wales data was combined between 2001 and 2012. For Scotland and Northern Ireland, data was not collected until 2008.

Table A19b: Proportion of all deaths in men aged 65 years and over that are due to ruptured AAA (ICD code I71.3) - 2013 to 2023

Calendar year England Wales Scotland Northern Ireland
2013 1.01 1.13 0.83 0.72
2014 1.04 0.81 0.81 0.48
2015 0.86 1.00 0.82 0.55
2016 0.86 0.68 0.77 0.40
2017 0.78 0.84 0.86 0.41
2018 0.75 0.73 0.69 0.51
2019 0.69 0.84 0.67 0.53
2020 0.56 0.50 0.54 0.33
2021 0.61 0.67 0.59 0.27
2022 0.59 0.58 0.65 0.56
2023 0.55 0.61 0.60 0.51
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