Background: This observational study assesses trends in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) death rates in European Union (EU) 15+ countries for the years 1990-2017.
Methods: Age-standardised death rates were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease Study Global Health Data Exchange. Trends were analysed using Joinpoint regression analysis.
Results: Between 1990 and 2017, age-standardised death rates (ASDR) from AAA decreased in all 19 EU15+ countries for females, and in 18 of 19 countries for males: Increasing AAA mortality was observed only for males in Greece (+5.3%). The largest relative decreases in ASDR between 1990-2017 were observed in Australia (males -65.6%, females -50.4%) and Canada (males -60.8%, females -48.6%). Over the 28-year period for females, the smallest decreases in ASDR were observed in Greece (-2.3%) and in Italy (-2.5%). In 2017, the highest mortality rates were observed in the United Kingdom for both males and females (7.5/100,000 and 3.7/100,000 for males and females, respectively). The lowest ASDR was observed in Portugal for males (2.8/100,000) and Spain for females (1.0/100,000). ASDRs for AAA in 2017 were higher in males than females in all 19 EU15+ countries. The most recent trends demonstrated increasing AAA ASDRs in 14 of 19 countries for both males and females; the increases were relatively small when compared with the improvements observed within the preceding years.
Conclusion: In this observational study of EU15+ countries, we identify decreasing mortality from AAA across EU15+ countries since 1990. The most recent trends demonstrate relatively small increases in AAA mortality across the majority of EU15+ countries since 2012.