Overview of included studies
The searches identified 18 524 articles. The authors reviewed 178 full-text articles, and 26 (including five from the grey literature)12–16 were deemed relevant (Figure 1). All were observational studies. Seven used data from large, routine, consolidated datasets with nationwide reach15,17–22 (including the Clinical Practice Research Datalink [CPRD],17–20 QResearch,21 and prescribing data);15 19 used local data from general practices (n = 17)13,14,23–37 or community settings (n = 2) collected in particular geographic areas.12,16 Eleven studies15,17–23,26–28 were assessed as high quality (further information is available from the authors on request). In addition to the 26 included observational studies, data identified in the additional internet searches were also extracted from PHE’s website.38
Figure 1. PRISMA diagram.
Coverage (n = 10)
The PHE website included data on national level coverage during the first 3.5 years of the current 5-year cycle (2013–2014, when the NHS Health Check became a statutory requirement, to second quarter (Q2), 2016–2017), as well as variation in coverage over time (per quarter) and by area (at the county level).38 Nine further studies reported data on coverage (Table 1).13,18,21–24,29–31
Table 1. NHS Health Check: overall coverage
Reported coverage
The PHE website reported coverage of 45.6% for the whole of England (2013–2014 to Q2, 2016–2017), ranging from 18.9% in Surrey to 109.2% in Newham.38 Where full-year data were available, national coverage varied between 48.1% in 2014–2015 to 45.0% in 2015–2016. Three of the nine published studies used national-level data from earlier years.18,21,22 The reported coverage ranged from 8.1% (2011–2012)22 to 26.7% (2009–2013).18 The other six studies reported data from samples of general practices, with coverage ranging from 20.0% (2010–2011 in Hammersmith and Fulham)23 to 73.4% (2011–2012 in East London)31 (Table 1).
Variation in coverage
Three studies used multiple regression to identify factors associated with differences in coverage between population groups.18,22,23 The findings from these are summarised in Table 2. Two used patient-level data. Both showed higher coverage among older people and those with a family history of coronary heart disease (CHD). The study by Artac et al additionally reported higher coverage among non-smokers, those in the most deprived tertile, those without CVD comorbidities, those registered with larger general practices, and among people from black and South Asian ethnic groups.23 By contrast, the study by Chang et al found no significant association between coverage and deprivation, and a lower coverage among people from black African and other black ethnic groups.18 The third study used data from 151 primary care trusts (PCT), and found those in the most deprived tertile were significantly more likely to have attended a health check, but no significant associations for age, ethnicity, population size, and other PCT-level measures.22
Table 2. Associations between coverage and area-level or individual-level characteristics from multivariable adjusted studies
A further five studies reported coverage for different population subgroups without adjustment for covariates.18,21,23,29,30 The two that used data from large datasets with nationwide reach during the programme’s first 4 years showed higher coverage among females, older people, and those living in more deprived areas.18,21
Uptake (n = 12)
The PHE website included data on national-level uptake (2013–2014 to Q2, 2016–2017), as well as variation in uptake over time (per quarter) and by area (at the county level). Eleven studies reported uptake and socioeconomic factors associated with uptake in general practices (n = 9)14,26,27,29,30,32–35 and community-based settings (n = 2).12,16 The study samples were different from those used in the coverage studies and generally smaller, ranging from two32 to 4033 general practices, incorporating between 138034 and 50 48529 patients.
Reported uptake
Table 3 shows the reported uptake across the data sources. The PHE website reported uptake of 48.2% for the whole of England (2013–2014 to Q2, 2016–2017), ranging from 20.1% in East Riding of Yorkshire to 100% in Leicester. Where full-year data were available, national uptake varied between 47.9% in 2015–2016 to 49.0% in 2013–2014. Uptake in the general practice studies (n = 9) ranged from 27% (four practices in the East of England)34 to 52.9% (13 practices in North West England).30 Uptake in the community settings was 45.9% (a football ground)16 and 71.8% (a mental healthcare unit).12
Table 3. Uptake and variation of NHS Health Checks
Variation in uptake
Five studies reported associations between patient characteristics and the likelihood of attending, using multivariable regression (Table 3).14,26,27,34,35 These consistently showed that the odds of taking up an invitation increased significantly with age and lower deprivation. Of the five studies reporting associations between uptake and sex, four also showed females were more likely to take up invitations.14,26,34,35 The fifth, a study of 37 practices in Stoke-on-Trent,27 reported the opposite, with males more likely to take up invitations. Only two studies reported the effects of ethnicity. One was in 29 practices in Ealing (West London), and found invitees of South Asian or mixed ethnicity were more likely to attend than white British, while there was no difference for black or other groups, and those with missing data were less likely to attend.26 The other was across four general practices in the East of England and found no difference in uptake between participants of white and non-white ethnicity.34
Five studies also reported unadjusted comparisons between invited attendees and non-attendees.26,27,29,30,34 All reported higher uptake in older people, but findings for deprivation were more mixed, with two reporting higher uptake in those in the least deprived areas,27,29 one with higher uptake in the most deprived,34 and two with no significant differences.26,30 Notably, the association between deprivation and uptake in the unadjusted analysis of the study across four general practices in the East of England was in the opposite direction from the multivariable analysis, which adjusted for GP practice (greater deprivation was associated with a higher odds of attending in unadjusted analysis in the study). As the authors of that study note,34 the GP practices had different distributions of deprivation and used different invitation methods, highlighting the importance of GP surgery characteristics when assessing uptake. Two studies also reported higher uptake in women29,34 and, where reported, uptake was higher in non-smokers, those with higher CVD risk, and those with hypertension or raised cholesterol.26,27,30
Impact (n = 12)
In all, 12 studies reported evidence on short- term impact. Five included a comparison group (Table 4). Of these, two used CPRD data to examine individual-level differences over time between matched attendees and non-attendees.19,20 The other three reported population-level associations between coverage and outcome.15,28,36 The remaining seven studies were before-and-after studies without comparison groups.17,18,21,25,26,30,37 No studies of long-term health impacts or economic evaluations were identified.
Table 4. Studies with a comparison group reporting the health-related impact of the NHS Health Check
Disease detection (n = 4)
The CPRD study by Chang et al showed more frequent diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolaemia, hypertension, CKD, peripheral vascular disease, and T2DM among attendees compared with non-attendees during the 2 years following attendance, while stroke diagnosis was significantly less likely.20 No significant differences in diagnoses of atrial fibrillation (AF), coronary artery disease, heart failure, or transient ischaemic attack were observed.20 The CPRD study by Forster et al also showed more frequent diagnosis of hypercholesterolaemia (high cholesterol), and of hypertension among males (but not females).19
Two further studies used small samples of general practices and reported associations between NHS Health Check coverage and disease detection after controlling for area-level characteristics (for example, age profile and deprivation).28,36 The study by Caley et al 28 identified no statistically significant associations between coverage and change in the prevalence of T2DM, hypertension, CHD, CKD, or AF. However, the study only included 79 general practices, and only 13.6% of the eligible population had received an NHS Health Check so it was underpowered to detect small differences. The study by Lambert et al 36 reported that the number of NHS Health Checks performed explained between 6% and 60% of the variance in incident hypertension across the different practices.
Health-related behaviour (n = 4)
The only study with a comparison group to report health-related behaviour reported no significant association between change in smoking prevalence (recorded within primary care records over a median of 2 years) and attendance at a health check.20 Three studies reported change in smoking among individuals after attendance at a health check. Two17,37 showed a significant reduction of at least 10 percentage points in the proportion of attendees who smoked, whereas in the other the change was not statistically significant.25 However, without a comparison group it is not possible to attribute these changes to the NHS Health Check. No other health-related behaviours were reported.
Prescribing (n = 9)
The two CPRD studies19,20 identified significantly greater increases in statin and antihypertensive prescriptions among attendees than matched non-attendees. For example, new statin prescriptions were initiated for 5.6% of attendees, versus 1.2% of non-attendees over a median of 2 years in one of the studies,20 and by 11.0% and 7.6% over 4 years in the other.19 Another study investigated national-level prescribing data and showed a significant association between coverage and high-dose statin prescribing at the PCT level in 2011; however, the association was not significant for low-dose statins.15
All of the six before-and-after studies showed an increased likelihood of a statin prescription following attendance.17,18,21,25,26,30 The proportion prescribed statins after the health check ranged from 18.3% in one of the CPRD studies17 to 49.9% in Hammersmith and Fulham.25
Individual risk factors and CVD risk (n = 5)
The CPRD study by Chang et al 20 showed significant differences in body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP, systolic and diastolic), modelled CVD risk, and total cholesterol between attendees and matched non-attendees during a 2-year period.20 For example, the QRISK2 mean score (% 10-year risk) fell by 0.21 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.19 to 0.24), from 5.1 to 4.9 among non-attendees, compared with 6.7 to 6.2 among attendees, which is equivalent to the prevention of one cardiovascular event per 4762 attendees. However, the sample used in the analysis was limited by missing data: only 2.3% of non-attendees had a follow-up QRISK2 score recorded. The population-level cross-sectional study by Lambert et al also reported a strong negative association between the number of health checks provided in a particular area and incident cases of CVD.36
Three further before-and-after studies of attendees17,25,37 identified significant reductions in diastolic BP and cholesterol levels after 12–15 months. Significant reductions in CVD risk,25,37 systolic BP,17,37 and some (although not all) obesity-related measures17,37 were also reported in two of the three studies. However, in addition to having no comparison group, the samples used in the analyses were also limited by missing data (for example, follow-up data were unavailable for 50% of attendees in one study).37