According to available scientific evidence, an AAA screening program would theoretically be effective, given that the criteria regarding the disease, screening test, treatment and cost effectiveness are met, especially among men aged 65 to 74 years.
To date, the effectiveness of such a program, which depends on epidemiological and organizational conditions in actual contexts, has not been demonstrated.
If this population screening program were implemented in Québec with a cohort of men aged 65 to 74 years followed up for 41 months, it would yield approximately 100 preventable deaths per year.
The current state of Québec’s epidemiological and organizational conditions, while scarcely favourable to the immediate implementation of such a program, does reveal several possible avenues for improvement.
The MSSS and directly concerned professional organizations are invited to jointly set priorities and develop an action plan to improve the clinical and organizational aspects surrounding the management of people who present with an abdominal aortic aneurysm or its associated risk factors, and to fully evaluate the real potential of a population screening program.