Epidemiological Studies of Health Effects of General Examinations

The effect of systematic health examinations and screening of the general population is under debate. Recently, a large Danish randomized study found that systematic screening of risk factors and lifestyle advice in the general population did not have a preventive effect on coronary heart disease, stroke or all-cause mortality. However, there are still very few completed randomized studies, and the effect on other diseases remains unclear. The purpose is to investigate whether repeated health examinations with screening of various risk factors in an unselected population prevent long-term incidence of ischemic heart disease, stroke, total and cause-specific mortality, diabetes, dementia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and various forms of cancer. A preliminary protocol was submitted and approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency before the registry-based data on primary and secondary outcomes were received by the investigator.