There is no evidence that community-based screening of asymptomatic older people results in improvements in vision.
Can health visitors prevent fractures in elderly people?
To assess whether intervention by a health visitor could reduce the number of fractures, over a four year period, in those aged 70 and over.
                Randomised, controlled trial; randomisation by household.
                General practice in a market town.
                Of 863 patients aged 70 and over on the practice records, 674 were traced and successfully interviewed; 350 were assigned to the intervention group, 324 as controls.
                The people in the intervention group were allocated to the care of a health visitor. The approach was four pronged: assessment and correction of nutritional deficiencies, including reducing smoking and alcohol intake; assessment and referral of medical conditions such as heart block or inappropriate medication; assessment and correction of environmental hazards in the home such as poor lighting; assessment and improvement of fitness--for example, exercise classes for the moderately fit. The intervention continued for four years.
                Fracture rate over four years.
                The incidence of fractures was 5% (16/350) in the intervention group and 4% (14/324) in the control group (difference not significant).
                A health visitor visiting a group of people aged 70 and over and using simple preventive measures had no effect on the incidence of fractures.