No population-based screening for AAA

The health gain of a national population-based screening programme for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) among men aged 65 in the Netherlands would be too limited to compensate for the considerable drawbacks such a programme would also have. In the Netherlands a relatively large number of AAA’s is already detected and treated within regular patient care, in a much less intrusive way than population-based screening. The Health Council advises the State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) therefore not to start a population-based screening programme for AAA and instead recommends to explore whether the current approach can be further optimized.