03.05.16
NHS health check reduces risk of heart disease by just 0.21%
Just one heart attack or stroke in 4,000 is prevented by the NHS Health Check, according to a new study.
The study, from Imperial College London, found that only 21.4% of those eligible are attending the health checks, offered to all those aged 40 to 74 to reduce their risk of cardiovascular events, and that it only reduced the risk by 0.21% – the equivalent of one for every 4,762 people at risk.
The report also revealed that there was just a 39.9% prescription rate of statins for those at risk, beneath a target of 85%.
Kiara Chang, lead author of the research, said: “Not only are very few people attending the appointments, but the results suggest that among those who do undergo the check, the number of high-risk patients placed on statins is below national guidelines.”
The report also found very small improvements in other measures of health following the check-ups, including an average BMI reduction of 0.27kg/m2, a cholesterol reduction of 0.15mmo/L, and no significant increase in the number of people stopping smoking as a result of the health checks.
Professor Azeem Majeed, principal investigator in the study, called for changes to how the health check is implemented to make it more effective.
He said: “It needs to be better planned and implemented – our work will help highlight how this can be done. In future we plan to evaluate whether particular groups – for instance older patients – have greater health benefits from the check than younger patients.
“It would also be interesting to investigate the reasons why the health check produced such modest benefits. For instance, to evaluate the advice patients are given during the health check.”
However, the study found the health check did lead to a small increase in diagnosis of some conditions, including 2.99% for hypertension and 1.31% for type 2 diabetes.
Jamie Waterall, national lead for the health check at Public Health England, whom NHE interviewed last year, said: “It is important that we review all emerging evidence for this programme. PHE has an established expert group which will look at the findings of this study.
“The largest national evaluation of the programme shows that the NHS health check could have prevented 2,500 heart attacks and strokes in its first five years due to clinical treatments following the check. We know that more people could benefit from the check and we are working with local teams to deliver the best possible service.”
When the health check was introduced, health secretary Jeremy Hunt predicted it would save 650 lives every year.