You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Commentary
Health promotion and public health
Health checks have a limited effect on reducing morbidity and mortality in asymptomatic populations
  1. Kate Frazer
  1. School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
  1. Correspondence to Dr Kate Frazer, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland; kathleen.frazer{at}ucd.ie

https://doi.org/10.1136/ebnurs-2019-103094

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    Commentary on: Krogsbøll LT, Jørgensen KJ, Gøtzsche PC. General health checks in adults for reducing morbidity and mortality from disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2019;1:CD009009. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009009.pub3.

    Implications for practice and research

    • Current evidence does not support continuing trials of health checks in general population and could lead to unnecessary tests and treatments.

    • Future research should examine effects of structural public health interventions including effects of higher tax on cigarettes and alcohol on reducing disease.

    Context

    General health check programmes screen asymptomatic groups with the aim of detecting disease or risk factors at an earlier stage to prevent future illness and improve health outcomes.1 2 General health screening, while providing benefits, is associated with disadvantages including false reassurance or over treatment.3 Criteria for establishing screening and evaluation of programmes are essential.3

    Methods

    This was an update of a previous systematic review of randomised …

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.