Limited data suggest that systematic risk assessment for CVD has no statistically significant effects on clinical endpoints .
There is limited evidence to suggest that CVD systematic risk assessment may have some favourable effects on cardiovascular risk factors .
BACKGROUND Screening programmes can potentially identify people at high cardiovascular risk and reduce cardiovascular disease ( CVD ) morbidity and mortality .
However , there is currently not enough evidence showing clear clinical or economic benefits of systematic screening-like programmes over the widely practised opportunistic risk assessment of CVD in primary care setting s. OBJECTIVES The primary objective of this review was to assess the effectiveness , costs and adverse effects of systematic risk assessment compared to opportunistic risk assessment for the primary prevention of CVD .
Cholesterol reduction following health screening in general practice
Objectives - To evaluate changes in plasma cholesterol following health screening and health discussion s in general practice . Design - R and omised prospect i ve population -based study conducted over a period of 5 years . Setting - Primary care , all general practitioners ( GPs ) in a welldefined area . Subjects - A r and om sample of inhabitants aged 30 - 49 years in January 1991 , registered with a local GP was invited to participate . The participants ( 1507 persons , or 75.4 % of the 2000 invited ) were r and omly allocated to two intervention groups and a control group . Main outcome measures - Plasma cholesterol , percentage of subjects with plasma cholesterol higher than 7 mmol/l . Results - After 5 years of intervention , plasma cholesterol in the whole population was significantly lower in the intervention groups compared to the control group . The decrease was most pronounced ( 0.5 mmol/l ) in subjects at high cardiovascular risk . The percentage of high-risk individuals with a cholesterol level higher than 7 mmol/l was significantly lower in the intervention groups compared to the control group ( 9.8 % vs 6.2 % , p = 0.04 ) , corresponding to a 37 % reduction . Conclusions - The study shows that the health checks had a measurable impact on plasma cholesterol levels , the most pronounced effect is seen among individuals at high cardiovascular risk
Limited data suggest that systematic risk assessment for CVD has no statistically significant effects on clinical endpoints .
There is limited evidence to suggest that CVD systematic risk assessment may have some favourable effects on cardiovascular risk factors .
BACKGROUND Screening programmes can potentially identify people at high cardiovascular risk and reduce cardiovascular disease ( CVD ) morbidity and mortality .
However , there is currently not enough evidence showing clear clinical or economic benefits of systematic screening-like programmes over the widely practised opportunistic risk assessment of CVD in primary care setting s. OBJECTIVES The primary objective of this review was to assess the effectiveness , costs and adverse effects of systematic risk assessment compared to opportunistic risk assessment for the primary prevention of CVD .