Measurement and management of cardiovascular risk factors — is screening worthwhile?

Coronary heart disease has been described as Scotland's national disease and ways of reducing its incidence are therefore of paramount importance especially in younger males. A recent British Medical Journal paper¹ has indicated that general practitioners can make little impact on patients’ lifestyles. This paper shows that a cohort of Scottish men (Social Class III-V) responded well (80%) to offers of screening for risk factors of CHD, continued to attend for review and showed highly significant changes in their risk factor profiles. A committed enthusiastic primary care team have shown the potential for reducing coronary risk factors in so-called healthy men.