NHS Health Check (vascular risk)

• NHS Health Check programme aims to help prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease
  • everyone between the ages of 40 and 74, who has not already been diagnosed with one of these conditions, will be invited (once every five years) to have a check to assess their risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and diabetes and will be given support and advice to help them reduce or manage that risk
  • the Health check involves:
    
    • Personal history
      • some people are more likely to develop vascular disease than others
        • therefore, the check will involve a brief personal history and a review of some key personal details, such as:
          • age: older people are at an increased risk
          • ethnicity: some ethnic groups, for example, south Asians and Afro-Caribbeans, are at an increased risk
          • smoking status: smokers are at increased risk
          • family history: if there's a history of these diseases in your family, then you're at an increased risk
          • physical activity: people who are physically inactive are at an increased risk
    • Quantitative measures used in health check:
      • serum cholesterol
      • blood pressure
      • body mass index (BMI
      • blood glucose
• the Department of Health and NHS Diabetes and Kidney Care work together to support the NHS in delivering the NHS Health Check programme

Reference:

• 1)http://www.healthcheck.nhs.uk (Accessed December 20th 2012)