Conclusions Interventions using physician reminders , using dedicated personnel to deliver screening , and provision of financial incentives were found to be effective in increasing CVD risk factors screening uptake
Background Cardiovascular disease ( CVD ) is the leading cause of death globally .
However , many individuals are unaware of their CVD risk factors .
The objective of this systematic review is to determine the effectiveness of existing intervention strategies to increase uptake of  CVD risk factors screening .
Participation in health check-ups and mortality using propensity score matched cohort analyses.
OBJECTIVE All Japanese aged ≥40 years are eligible for free annual health check-ups including blood pressure and cholesterol measurements . It is well known that health check-up screenees are more likely to have healthy lifestyles and better health conditions than non-screenees . Therefore , controlling these factors is required to investigate whether screenees have a lower mortality risk than non-screenees independent of their lifestyles or health conditions . METHODS We followed 48,775 Japanese National Health Insurance beneficiaries aged 40 - 79 years since 1994 for 11 years . We used Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for possible confounding factors . We also performed propensity for use of the health check-up matched cohort analyses . RESULTS Compared to non-screenees , multiple-adjusted hazard ratios ( 95 % confidence intervals ) for all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality among screenees were 0.74 ( 0.62 - 0.88 ) and 0.65 ( 0.44 - 0.95 ) for men and 0.69 ( 0.52 - 0.91 ) and 0.61 ( 0.36 - 1.04 ) for women , respectively . These relations were also observed when we used propensity matched cohort analyses . CONCLUSION This is the first study to show that mortality rates are lower among screenees than non-screenees in Japanese health check-ups when propensity matched cohort analyses were used for adjusting confounding factors . Further prospect i ve studies , including r and omized controlled trials , are required to confirm whether screening lowers mortality
Conclusions Interventions using physician reminders , using dedicated personnel to deliver screening , and provision of financial incentives were found to be effective in increasing CVD risk factors screening uptake
Background Cardiovascular disease ( CVD ) is the leading cause of death globally .
However , many individuals are unaware of their CVD risk factors .
The objective of this systematic review is to determine the effectiveness of existing intervention strategies to increase uptake of  CVD risk factors screening .