Design and Patients: Abdominal aortic ultrasonography was undertaken in 303 diabetic men aged 60 years and over recruited to the Fremantle Diabetes Study, a large community-based study of diabetes.
Main Outcome Measure: An AAA was diagnosed if the aortic diameter was
30 mm or if the subject had undergone previous
surgery for AAA.Results: Of the 303 men scanned, four had already had aortic grafting for AAA and three were found to have previously undiagnosed AAA. The aorta was not visualised in three men. Only one AAA was
50 mm in diameter and hence in need of surgery. This resulted in
an overall prevalence of 2.3% (7/300) which was lower than that
reported previously in the general population. Multivariate
logistic regression analysis of a range of clinical and biochemical
variables revealed statistically significant associations with
fasting triglycerides and a history of intermittent claudication in
our patients.Conclusions: Ultrasound screening was performed easily and was well tolerated by the patients. Although a small number of diabetic men have undiagnosed AAA, the prevalence does not appear to be high enough to warrant targeted ultrasound screening.
©MJA 1997