For people at low risk for cardiovascular disease, a five-year screening interval is too frequent, but for people with an intermediate risk, it was not frequent enough. Photo by agilemktg1/Flickr
April 4 (UPI) -- Health experts throughout the United States recommend people at high risk for cardiovascular disease get checked every five years for risk factors that include blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose and other factors.
For people at low risk for cardiovascular disease, a five-year interval is too frequent to be checked, and for people with an intermediate risk, it was not frequent enough, according to a study published Wednesday in the Lancet public health. To reduce healthcare costs, the research suggests that the intervals should be individualized based on a persons risk factors.
"Our study shows that by optimizing the screening intervals, 8 percent of myocardial infarcts and strokes could be prevented without increase in health care costs. This means that during the next 20 years, in the English population aged now 40 to 64, the number of new myocardial infarcts or strokes prevented annually could reach 5000," Joni Lindbohm, a researcher at the University of Helsinki and study lead author, said in a news release.
Researchers predicted the optimal screening intervals by measuring the cardiovascular disease risk factors of 7,000 English men and women from a previous study.
On average, participants at a lower risk for cardiovascular disease transition to the intermediate-low risk category after nine years. Then it took seven more years before moving on to the intermediate high-risk category.
From that point, over 70 percent of the participants moved up to the high-risk category where doctors usually prescribe preventative medicine if lifestyle changes are enough.
Overall, the researchers say making the screening intervals individualized would mean tailoring a lifestyle intervention or preventative medication regime to a patient's needs. And this would be a more effective way to combat cardiovascular disease.
"The results are promising, but national guidelines are rarely changed based on one study. The benefits of individualized screening intervals should be further studied in a randomized control trial before changing the guidelines," said Mika Kivimäki, Director of the Whitehall II study at University College London and study author.
