Aortic Aneurysm: This is caused by having a weakened area in the wall of the aorta (the largest artery in the body) resulting in an abnormal widening or ballooning greater than 50 percent of the normal width of the artery.
1.) Atherosclerosis: Build-up of plaque (deposit of fatty substances, cholesterol, cellular waste products, calcium, and fibrin) in the inner lining of an artery
2.) Age/Stress
3.) Genetic Factors
4.) Hyperlipidemia: Elevated fat levels in the blood
5.) Hypertension: Elevated blood pressure
6.) Smoking
7.) Diabetes
8.) Infectious aortitis: Infection of the aorta that is due to infectious diseases such as staph, or syphilis, and even salmonella
9.) Giant cell arteritis: A disease that causes inflammation of the temporal arteries and other arteries in the head and neck
10.) Trauma: Any accident, or even a fall
11.) Drugs (Cocaine use) – cause of coronary artery aneurysms Researching has been done and found that the main factor to the cause of AA starts at the developing of atherosclerosis. Diabetes is positively associated with atherosclerosis but in contrast has been associated with AAA and therefore is an important risk factor as well. As the older someone gets, their tolerance level gets lower causing a lot of stress, hypertension and sometimes if the person gets overweight they tend to take on the diabetes. Obesity can relate back to the atherosclerosis which then in turn flows down the list of causations. But if none of the above have occurred and are very healthy individual; then potentially there are other risk like having an accident or an infection that would lead to potentially having an infection in the aorta, disease that would cause severe swelling in the arteries leading to the heart or has connection to the aorta.

6) Give an example of how two of Hill’s Criteria may be satisfied with respect to the relationship between TWO of the factors in your web of causation and the health outcome you have chosen.
As I have studied A.B. Hill’s Criteria, the two that really play an importance in the causations of aortic aneurysms is consistency and strength. First, the consistent association is one that has been observed repeatedly which leads to atherosclerosis as the positive result for causing AA in the majority of individuals diagnosed with this outcome. Secondly, the strong associations that give support to a casual relationship between the many factors that cause aortic aneurysms is the idea of strength. The strength criterion has a strong association with obesity is what can cause an aortic aneurysm to initiate and begin to take its effect on the whole body. As Hill states “no matter the circumstances you shouldn’t dismiss the possibility of casual associations, for there are many situations in which associations exists.” The health outcome when atherosclerosis and obesity have means that the two criteria; strength and consistency shows a positive correlation that ends with a result of aortic aneurysm’s.