Where your DNA places you among other people, and the studies behind it.
Not tailored to your result, and not medical advice
Quit or Avoid Smoking: Smoking is by a wide margin the strongest modifiable risk factor for abdominal aortic aneurysm. In a meta-analysis of prospective studies, current smokers had about 4.9 times the risk of never smokers and former smokers about 2.1 times, with risk rising roughly 87 percent for each additional 10 cigarettes a day. Risk fell steadily after stopping, by around half for every 10 years since quitting, and approached never-smoker levels by about 25 years. No other behavior on this list has an effect anywhere near that size. Scientific Reports (PMC)
Eat Fruit Most Days: In two Swedish cohorts totalling 80,426 adults followed for 13 years, people eating more than two servings of fruit a day had 25 percent lower risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm and 43 percent lower risk of a ruptured aneurysm than those eating under 0.7 servings a day. Vegetable intake showed no association in the same analysis, and the authors linked the difference to antioxidants in fruit acting on the oxidative stress that drives inflammation in the aortic wall. This is observational data, so it shows an association rather than proof that fruit prevents aneurysms. Circulation (PubMed)
Build Regular Physical Activity: Pooling nine prospective cohorts covering 409,732 people and 2,073 aneurysm cases, the most physically active participants had about 30 percent lower risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm than the least active, and risk fell about 16 percent per additional 20 MET-hours of activity a week. The apparent benefit was concentrated in the move from sedentary to modestly active rather than in adding volume on top of an already active week, though the formal test for that curve shape was not statistically significant. The authors flagged moderately high heterogeneity, and European cohorts showed the association more clearly than American ones, where it was not significant. General adult activity guidance is around 150 minutes of moderate activity a week. Scientific Reports (PMC)
Know What Exercise Cannot Do: Once an aneurysm has formed, there is no good evidence that exercise makes it smaller. A 2024 meta-analysis of eight randomised trials in 588 people with unrepaired abdominal aortic aneurysm found no significant effect of supervised training on aneurysm diameter, although cardiorespiratory fitness and anaerobic threshold improved and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein fell. The trials reported no adverse events and no ruptures during moderate-intensity training. The honest summary is that activity looks safe and good for general cardiovascular health here, while the evidence that lifestyle change alters an aneurysm that already exists is weak. BMC Cardiovascular Disorders (PMC)
Share Your Family History: Abdominal aortic aneurysms usually cause no symptoms until they leak or rupture, so family history is one of the few practical signals available in advance. NHLBI reports that about one in ten people with an abdominal aortic aneurysm have a family history of it, and that someone with an affected parent, sibling, or child has roughly a one in five chance of developing one. Risk also climbs after age 65 and is higher in men, although an aneurysm is more likely to rupture at a smaller size in women. Abdominal ultrasound is how these are normally found, so a family history of aneurysm is worth mentioning to a doctor, and sudden severe abdominal or back pain needs emergency attention. NHLBI
How much of this is genetic?
Genetics explains 70% of why people differ in this trait. The rest is environment, daily habits and chance.
Heritability estimate: Wahlgren et al., population-based twin study (J Vasc Surg, 2010; heritability of liability to AAA ~70%)
Background and further reading
An abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a permanent, localized dilation of the abdominal aorta, usually defined as a diameter of 3.0 cm or greater. Most aneurysms grow slowly and cause no symptoms, so they are often found incidentally on imaging done for other reasons. The main concern is that a large aneurysm can rupture, which is a life-threatening event. AAA is far more common in men, in people over 65, and in those with a history of smoking, and prevalence rises steeply with age. When symptoms do occur they can include a deep, constant abdominal or back pain or a pulsating sensation near the navel.
Genetic Basis: AAA has a strong hereditary component. A Swedish population-based twin study estimated the heritability of liability to AAA at roughly 70%, with the remaining variance attributed to non-shared environmental factors, and having an affected first-degree relative substantially raises risk. Genome-wide association studies have identified reproducible risk loci including LRP1 (chromosome 12), LDLR (chromosome 19), SORT1 and IL6R (chromosome 1), DAB2IP (chromosome 9), and the well-known 9p21 (CDKN2B-AS1) locus shared with other vascular diseases. Many of these genes converge on lipid metabolism, low-density lipoprotein handling, inflammation, and the integrity of the arterial wall and its smooth-muscle and connective-tissue components.
Environmental Factors: Smoking is by far the strongest modifiable risk factor for AAA; it is associated with both a higher chance of developing an aneurysm and faster growth, and the risk is dose-dependent with duration of smoking. Other associated factors include high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, older age, and male sex. Interestingly, diabetes is associated with a modestly lower risk of AAA. Not smoking, keeping blood pressure and cholesterol well controlled, and staying physically active are the most consistently supported ways to lower AAA-related risk. A polygenic score reflects inherited tendency only and is not a diagnosis.
The published research behind your score, and the variants it draws on.
3 published scores from 3 studies
The abdominal aortic aneurysm score combines 3 polygenic scores drawn from 3 published studies.
These traits are influenced by some of the same genes and variants as this one
Content updated August 2026.
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