Cardiovascular disease risk in people eligible for NHS Health Checks

The National Health Service (NHS) Health Check Programme aims to identify and manage patients in England aged 40-74 years with a 10-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk score over 20%. In an article published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation. Andrew Dalton and colleagues from the Department of Primary Care & Public Health at Imperial College London assessed the prevalence of high CVD risk in the English population, using the two CVD risk scores and the 20% cut off mandated in national policy, and the prevalence of risk factors within this population. They found that of those eligible for an NHS Health Check, 10.5% (2,012,000) had a risk score greater than 20% using the QRISK2 risk score; 22.0% (4,267,000) using Joint British Societies' (JBS2) score. To reduce risk in those at high CVD risk, we estimate the total costs of the Programme to be £176 million using QRISK2 or £378 million using JBS2. They concluded that a large number of high-risk patients will be identified by the NHS Health Check programme. The NHS must consider whether extra costs for the programme if JBS2 is used are justified.

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