Q: Does ultrasound screening for AAA fulfil World Health Organisation criteria for a screening programme?
A: Yes ultrasound screening for AAA fulfils all the criteria.
Q: Does ultrasound scanning cause any harm?
A: Ultrasound scanning has been used for many years. From screening programmes for babies in their mothers’ wombs to adults with AAA there is no evidence for any harm from ultrasound scanning.
Q: Does screening for AAA cause any harm?
A: Screening for AAA may cause anxiety particularly for those people who are found to have an aneurysm but the major studies show that anxiety levels for screened populations are back to normal levels after about 6 weeks.
Q: GP Care offers screening to people below the age of 65 years used in the national screening programme. Why?
A: Increasing age is a major risk factor for AAA. The large studies have only looked at the effectiveness of population screening in the 65 years and over age group, yet 10% of all ruptured aneurysms occur in people under 65. It is not known whether population screening under the age of 65 is generally cost effective. We believe that people should look at their risk factors and decide whether or not they wish to take up AAA screening.
Q: Does my practice benefit from the GP Care AAA screening programme?
A: The practice benefits from identifying those patients who have an aneurysm and reducing their patients’ risk of sudden death from a ruptured aneurysm. A GP Care member practice benefits from the success of GP Care both in their share value and in the provision of additional services to its patients by GP Care. Practices’ costs for their involvement with this programme are reimbursed by GP Care.
Q: Will GP Care monitor the effectiveness of the AAA screening programme?
A: It is GP Care policy to carefully monitor and audit all the services we run. We will be auditing our AAA screening programme on a regular basis.
