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Abstract
Background Health checks have been suggested as an early detection approach aiming at lowering the risk of chronic disease development. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a health check programme offered to the general population, aged 30–49 years.
Methods The entire population aged 30–49 years (N=26 216) living in the municipality of Randers, Denmark, was invited to a health check during 5 years. A pragmatic household cluster-randomised controlled trial was conducted in 10 505 citizens. The intervention group (IG, N=5250) included citizens randomised to the second year and reinvited in the 5th year. The comparison group (CG, N=5255) included citizens randomised to the 5th year. Outcomes were modelled cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk; self-reported physical activity (PA) and objectively measured cardio respiratory fitness (CRF); self-rated health (short-form 12 (SF-12)), self-rated mental health (SF-12_Mental Component Score (MCS)) and, registry information on sick-leave and employment. Due to low participation, we compared groups matched on propensity scores for participation when reinvited.
Results Participation in the first health check was 51% (N=2698) in the IG and 40% (N=2120) in the CG. In the IG 26% (N=1340) participated in both the first and second health checks. No intervention effects were found comparing IG and CG. Mean differences were (95% CI): modelled CVD risk: −0.052 (95% CI −0.107 to 0.003)%, PA: −0.156 (−0.331 to 0.019) days/week with 30 min moderate PA, CRF: 0.133 (−0.560 to 0.826) mL O2/min/kg, SF-12: −0.003 (−0.032 to 0.026), SF-12_MCS: 0.355 (-0.423 to 1.132), sick leave periods ≥3 weeks: −0.004 (−0.025 to 0.017), employment: −0.004 (−0.032 to 0.024).
Conclusions Preventive health checks offered to the general population, aged 30–49 years, had no effects on a wide range of indicators of chronic disease risk.
Trial registration number NCT02028195.
- prevention
- health promotion
- epidemiology of chronic non communicable diseases
- treatment outcome
Data availability statement
Individual de-identified participant data (including data dictionaries) collected at the health examinations will be available on reasonable request. Information from the Danish National Registers was used under license from the Danish Health Data Authority for the current study, and so are not publicly available. The Danish Health Data Authority can permit availability of these data based on a separate request directed to The Danish Health Data Authority.
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
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Data availability statement
Individual de-identified participant data (including data dictionaries) collected at the health examinations will be available on reasonable request. Information from the Danish National Registers was used under license from the Danish Health Data Authority for the current study, and so are not publicly available. The Danish Health Data Authority can permit availability of these data based on a separate request directed to The Danish Health Data Authority.
Supplementary materials
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Footnotes
Contributors AS and HTM set up and initiated the trial. AS, HTM, KN, E-MD, HS and A-LB were members of the steering committee responsible for the development and implementation of the CHPP. HS and DRW contributed to the evaluation design, analysis plan, and interpretation of results. N-HB and KN accessed and verified the underlying data. NHBR performed the statistical analysis. A-LB drafted the manuscript. All authors had full access to all of the data and are responsible for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. All authors provided critical review and final approval. A-LB is responsible for the overall content as guarantor and affirms that this manuscript is an honest, accurate, and transparent account of the study being reported; that no important aspects of the study have been omitted; and that any discrepancies from the study as planned have been explained.
Funding The trial was funded by the Tryg Research Foundation, journal number 7-11-0500. The overall Check your health preventive programme was additionally funded by Randers municipality, the Central Denmark Region, and Aarhus University. Funding for several sub-projects were given by: ‘Region Midtjyllands Praksisforskningsfond’ (Central Denmark Research Foundation), ‘Helsefonden’ (Health Foundation), ‘Fonden for Almen Praksis’ (General Practice Foundation), ‘Folkesundhed i Midten’ (regional foundation of the Central Denmark Region), ‘Aase & Ejnar Danielsens Foundation’, ‘Oticon Fonden’ (Oticon Foundation), ‘Hjerteforeningen’ (Danish Heart Foundation), ‘Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond’ (L.F. Foghts Foundation).
Competing interests None declared.
Patient and public involvement statement Citizens of Randers municipality were not involved in the development of the study described. However, we are grateful for participant’s willingness to contribute to research by giving informed consent, making their data available for research purposes. All participants were asked to assess the overall burden of the intervention.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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