Acute Aortic Syndrome: From Risk Factors to Hospital Burden and Healthcare Resource Utilization

Acute aortic syndrome (AAS) comprises acute aortic dissection, intramural haematoma, penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer, and limited intimal tear, conditions that require rapid recognition because mortality and resource use are strongly influenced by time to diagnosis, anatomical extent, malperfusion, and the need for emergency surgical or endovascular intervention. This revised narrative review synthesizes contemporary evidence on clinical, genetic, environmental, and health-system determinants of prolonged hospitalisation, intensive care unit (ICU) utilisation, bed occupancy, and costs in patients with AAS. Beyond summarising established risk factors, the review adds a resource-oriented framework that links hypertension, advanced age, female sex, smoking-related comorbidity, hereditary aortopathies, haemodynamic instability, malperfusion, delayed diagnosis, operative complexity, and postoperative complications to measurable downstream outcomes such as ICU length of stay, total hospital length of stay, reoperation, readmission, and longitudinal imaging surveillance. We searched PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for relevant studies, registries, guideline documents, and cost analyses published between January 2000 and May 2026, with particular emphasis on studies from the last five years. The review was not designed as a meta-analysis; therefore, effect estimates are interpreted according to study design and generalisability. AAS imposes a disproportionate burden on hospital systems because high-risk patients often require advanced imaging, prolonged haemodynamic monitoring, complex open or endovascular repair, ICU care, and lifelong follow-up. Earlier diagnosis, structured risk stratification, targeted genetic evaluation, aggressive control of modifiable risk factors, and system-level pathways such as dedicated aortic networks may shorten hospital stay and reduce avoidable costs.