Elective surgery >> Demographics

AAA is well documented as a condition affecting men much more commonly than women. Only 13% (57/434) of repairs were performed on women. The gender distribution in the present report is similar to that recorded in recent HES data ¹.
Age distribution was also as expected. The median age for men was 72 years and for women 73.
The incidence of AAA increases with age but so does the incidence of significant comorbidity. The data for elective patients have been analysed to examine whether mortality increases with age. Figure 2 shows the age and sex distribution. Figure 3 shows the total numbers of patients in each age cohort who were alive 30 days after surgery or had died.
Figure 2. The distribution of age and sex n =434
Figure 3. Age by mortality n =432/434. Percentages refer to patients who died in hospital within
30 days.

The oldest elective patient in this study was 88 years. Of 71 patients aged 80 and over, only six died. Age alone should not be the only reason to turn down a patient for elective AAA repair.