Life Line Screening
Discussion
I've received a mailshot from Life Line Screening offering 'preventative screening' for stroke, aortic aneurysm, atrial fibrillation & peripheral arterial disease at a cost of £139.
Is this worth considering & actually provide useful clinical information for my GP or is it a potential waste of money?
Is this worth considering & actually provide useful clinical information for my GP or is it a potential waste of money?
RemainAllHoof said:
There was a thread on this a year or so ago. I think the replies were mixed. If there's something you're not happy with, why not speak to your GP?
Ah sorry, maybe I should have searched first.I think my fear is that the NHS isn't interested in screening for these sort of issues even if there is a family history. My father died of a heart attack while sat on the settee, my mother died of a stroke in her back garden & three aunts/uncles died of heart attacks as well. None of them made it past 63. Despite my doctor knowing all of this there's never been the slightest interest in sending me for any screening & I suspect I'd be written off as one of the worried well.
If I had tits I'd be having mammograms every three years even if there was no family history of breast cancer. Since I have a prostate instead we don't get screened just an 'informed choice programme'.
If the Life Line screening is actually medically effective I might give it a go.
Mr Pointy said:
If I had tits I'd be having mammograms every three years even if there was no family history of breast cancer. Since I have a prostate instead we don't get screened just an 'informed choice programme'.
If the Life Line screening is actually medically effective I might give it a go.
If it's your prostate, say you're concerned that you're peeing a bit more often than before and read about prostate cancer. Should get a finger up your rectum quicker than you can say, "Wait, I think my pee problem is fine!"If the Life Line screening is actually medically effective I might give it a go.
Mr Pointy said:
I've received a mailshot from Life Line Screening offering 'preventative screening' for stroke, aortic aneurysm, atrial fibrillation & peripheral arterial disease at a cost of £139.
Is this worth considering & actually provide useful clinical information for my GP or is it a potential waste of money?
Not quite sure what the stroke screening would involve that a GP wouldn't do for you...does it say what it involves? I imagine it might be cholesterol blood tests, BP or perhaps a doppler on your neck. I don't think there's any way you can 'screen' effectively for stroke, else it would be being done nationally.Is this worth considering & actually provide useful clinical information for my GP or is it a potential waste of money?
Aortic aneurysm I assume will be an ultrasound of your belly. Possibly worth it.
Atrial fibrillation is just an irregular heartbeat - it can usually be felt just by feeling your pulse - does it feel regular? If you're not sure, the doctor will do an ECG for you.
Not sure what the peripheral arterial disease test would involve. Go for it if you want to, but I don't think I would.
ETA - just had a look at how they screen for peripheral arterial disease - they use the ankle-brachial index. This is easily done at your GPs.
Maybe pop in to see your doctor and voice your concerns with them? If they won't do some of the tests then £139 isn't that bad I suppose. I am pretty sure that they won't do the doppler on your neck to check for increased stroke risk; normally this is only done (around here, anyway) if someone has had a TIA (mini-stroke). Even then lots of people have normal results and no action is taken.
BTW I'm not a doctor
Edited by turbolucie on Friday 18th March 20:33
turbolucie said:
Not quite sure what the stroke screening would involve that a GP wouldn't do for you...does it say what it involves? I imagine it might be cholesterol blood tests, BP or perhaps a doppler on your neck. I don't think there's any way you can 'screen' effectively for stroke, else it would be being done nationally.
Aortic aneurysm I assume will be an ultrasound of your belly. Possibly worth it.
Atrial fibrillation is just an irregular heartbeat - it can usually be felt just by feeling your pulse - does it feel regular? If you're not sure, the doctor will do an ECG for you.
Not sure what the peripheral arterial disease test would involve. Go for it if you want to, but I don't think I would.
ETA - just had a look at how they screen for peripheral arterial disease - they use the ankle-brachial index. This is easily done at your GPs.
Maybe pop in to see your doctor and voice your concerns with them? If they won't do some of the tests then £139 isn't that bad I suppose. I am pretty sure that they won't do the doppler on your neck to check for increased stroke risk; normally this is only done (around here, anyway) if someone has had a TIA (mini-stroke). Even then lots of people have normal results and no action is taken.
BTW I'm not a doctor
The blurb does indeed say that they perform a Doppler test on the carotid arteries & the other tests are much as you describe.Aortic aneurysm I assume will be an ultrasound of your belly. Possibly worth it.
Atrial fibrillation is just an irregular heartbeat - it can usually be felt just by feeling your pulse - does it feel regular? If you're not sure, the doctor will do an ECG for you.
Not sure what the peripheral arterial disease test would involve. Go for it if you want to, but I don't think I would.
ETA - just had a look at how they screen for peripheral arterial disease - they use the ankle-brachial index. This is easily done at your GPs.
Maybe pop in to see your doctor and voice your concerns with them? If they won't do some of the tests then £139 isn't that bad I suppose. I am pretty sure that they won't do the doppler on your neck to check for increased stroke risk; normally this is only done (around here, anyway) if someone has had a TIA (mini-stroke). Even then lots of people have normal results and no action is taken.
BTW I'm not a doctor
Edited by turbolucie on Friday 18th March 20:33
It's also occurred to me that if I did ask my doctor for these tests that they are very unlikely to done in one hit & I could end up going three or four times. Given that time is money it might be best to cough up & get it all done in one go.
Thanks for you comments. It would seem that the tests at least have some validity.
The practice nurse would perform ECG, BP and blood tests in one appointment. But would obviously need to go back to a GP for results of ECG and blood tests.
I would think that once you had the results from above you would be aware of how significant the risk was and then you could alter your lifestyle to reflect this.
How old are you? I wonder how effective carotid doppler and ultrasound for AAA is for someone younger than 50 as I know screening for AAA is over age of 60 in Sussex and only with family history.
I would think that once you had the results from above you would be aware of how significant the risk was and then you could alter your lifestyle to reflect this.
How old are you? I wonder how effective carotid doppler and ultrasound for AAA is for someone younger than 50 as I know screening for AAA is over age of 60 in Sussex and only with family history.
K77 CTR said:
The practice nurse would perform ECG, BP and blood tests in one appointment. But would obviously need to go back to a GP for results of ECG and blood tests.
I would think that once you had the results from above you would be aware of how significant the risk was and then you could alter your lifestyle to reflect this.
How old are you? I wonder how effective carotid doppler and ultrasound for AAA is for someone younger than 50 as I know screening for AAA is over age of 60 in Sussex and only with family history.
I'm 54. The practice wouldn't do the Doppler & ultrasound tests though, which is why I suspect I'd have more than one appointment at an NHS clinic. As I said in another reply a few of my close relatives didn't make it much beyond 60.I would think that once you had the results from above you would be aware of how significant the risk was and then you could alter your lifestyle to reflect this.
How old are you? I wonder how effective carotid doppler and ultrasound for AAA is for someone younger than 50 as I know screening for AAA is over age of 60 in Sussex and only with family history.
Of course, lifestyle alteration would be the sensible thing to do.....
Just a thought...I had a doctor talk to me recently about the danger of doing tests/investigations when they perhaps aren't necessary.
He gave the example of someone who came in, demanded to have a CT scan to try and detect anything early that might be going wrong. After repeated visits he was given a CT scan, and nothing was found apart from a brain tumour (a lot of people walk around with small benign brain tumours, that never cause any problems and they die without ever knowing they had one). The doctor says that nothing will be done about this brain tumour, but that it may cause him problems a long time into the future (perhaps when he was 80-90). Would you like to know, and live another 20-30 years worrying about the thing inside your head, wondering whether it might cause you a problem in the distant future? I wouldn't.
Just thinking, say for example they do the carotid doppler on your neck and find that both of your carotid arteries are 60% blocked.
If you took this information to your GP, I don't believe they would do anything anyway apart from advise on lifestyle changes. Surgery to strip out the arteries (called carotid endarterectomy) won't be done on the NHS if you're 'only' 60% blocked, even if you've had a mini-stroke before. You could pay privately but the surgery itself carries a risk of stroke. Plus that is only one risk factor for stroke.
Just some food for thought, sorry if I'm talking crap!!
He gave the example of someone who came in, demanded to have a CT scan to try and detect anything early that might be going wrong. After repeated visits he was given a CT scan, and nothing was found apart from a brain tumour (a lot of people walk around with small benign brain tumours, that never cause any problems and they die without ever knowing they had one). The doctor says that nothing will be done about this brain tumour, but that it may cause him problems a long time into the future (perhaps when he was 80-90). Would you like to know, and live another 20-30 years worrying about the thing inside your head, wondering whether it might cause you a problem in the distant future? I wouldn't.
Just thinking, say for example they do the carotid doppler on your neck and find that both of your carotid arteries are 60% blocked.
If you took this information to your GP, I don't believe they would do anything anyway apart from advise on lifestyle changes. Surgery to strip out the arteries (called carotid endarterectomy) won't be done on the NHS if you're 'only' 60% blocked, even if you've had a mini-stroke before. You could pay privately but the surgery itself carries a risk of stroke. Plus that is only one risk factor for stroke.
Just some food for thought, sorry if I'm talking crap!!
Great article in the BMJ last month about the dangers of over detection:
http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.d1140.extract
(Only an extract I'm afraid)
Remember these companies are not doing this out of an altruistic desire to reassure
you there is nothing wrong. They want to make money out of you. At the end of the
day they have investors/shareholders etc and there is nothing like making people
scared to get them to part with their cash.
http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.d1140.extract
(Only an extract I'm afraid)
Remember these companies are not doing this out of an altruistic desire to reassure
you there is nothing wrong. They want to make money out of you. At the end of the
day they have investors/shareholders etc and there is nothing like making people
scared to get them to part with their cash.
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