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• Back to Diseases and Conditions
• Aneurysms
• Abdominal Aortic (AAA)
  • Signs and Symptoms
  • Risk Factors
  • Causes
  • Diagnosis
  • Treatments
  • Physicians and Services
• Thoracic Aortic
• Peripheral

Risk Factors

Factors that increase your chances of developing an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) include:

• Atherosclerosis, a condition in which the lining of the arteries deteriorates, the walls of the arteries thicken and fat or plaque deposits block blood flow.
  
• High blood pressure (hypertension)
  
• Emphysema
  
• High cholesterol
  
• Family history
  
• Congenital defects such as Marfan syndrome
  
• Smoking
  
• Being a man over the age of 60
  
• Injury to the aorta, such as from a motor vehicle accident

In general, men are four to five times more likely than women to develop an abdominal aortic aneurysm, which is the most common type of aneurysm. The risk increases with age, with AAA most likely to occur in those between the ages of 60 and 80.