General health checks in adults - Cochrane review

General health checks in adults for reducing morbidity and mortality from disease is an interventional review recently published by the Cochrane Library.  The aim was to determine whether general health checks do more harm than good, emphasising patient-relevant outcomes such as morbidity and mortality. Health checks were defined as screening general populations for more than one disease or risk factor in more than one organ system. The authors noted that general health checks are unlikely to be beneficial as they did not reduce morbidity or mortality, overall or for cardiovascular or cancer causes, although the number of new diagnoses was increased.  

Norman Swan interviewed the lead author, Lasse Krogsboll, on ABC Radio National's Health Report about this last week.  You can read the transcript or listen to the podcast here.

Krogsbøll LT, Jørgensen KJ, Grønhøj LC, Gøtzsche PC. (2012). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 10. Art. No.: CD009009, DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009009.pub2