Closed petition Include women in the national screening programme for abdominal aortic aneurysms

Closed on 3 May 2017

Public Health England run a national screening programme for men aged ≥65 to detect abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). If left undetected, a AAA rupture is fatal in 90% of cases. The condition is not unique to men, women also suffer and die from AAA ruptures. So why aren't women also screened?

Screening is a way of detecting an aneurysm early. If the abdominal aortic artery gets particularly swollen, you might feel a pulsating feeling or pain in your stomach or back pain. If you don't experience this, you won’t know you have an aneurysm until it bursts, when it becomes an emergency and is usually fatal.
Ruptured AAAs are less common in women and, on average, occur 10 years later than in men.So why is there not a screening programme for women aged 75 or above? Women are equal!