Check-ups matter!
Check-ups matter!
My 15 year old daughter is a skillful debater. We have lively discussions about politics, religion, school, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But when she wants to win the debate, she conjures up an obscure reference in a fictitious journal to prove her point – definitively. After all, who can dispute a prestigious scientific publication?
This week, the healthy check-up in Quebec fell victim to a “meta-analysis.“ Experts confidently announced that “medical science no longer recommends these types of exams.“ Even the Minister of Health challenged “What does an annual visit prevent? Nothing.”
Specifically, these experts were citing a 2012 analysis by Lasse T Krogsbøll of the Cochrane Collaboration. His analysis of sixteen randomized studies concluded that “general health checks are unlikely to be beneficial.”
Further words of reassurance were imported from the Maritimes where a media relations advisor for the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness added ““We’re not aware of any concerns or issues since this change (eliminating the health annual check-up) took effect.“
And to allay any final concerns, the experts assured the public that when they “go to (the) doctors at any time for other reasons like an ankle injury or a bad chest infection, …a good doctor will use that opportunity to ask how things are going otherwise.“
With all this seemingly overwhelming scientific evidence condemning the relevance of the health check-up, why are we sad to see it go? Simply – because it shouldn`t.
We increasingly live in a world where human contact for the delivery of services is endangered – and it bothers us. Mail home delivery is threatened, bank branches are not profitable, established brick-and-mortar retail stores are restructuring. Seeing your doctor seemed immune – or at least it felt that it should be. Where else could a person go after accumulating a long “list“ of health problems full of fears, questions and concerns. Dr. Oz? Google? Just like the Crawleys in Downton Abbey, we all want a Dr. Carson to look out for and to look after us and our families. Someone who knows us, listens and cares.
The problem with scientific studies is that they are often misquoted and rarely read. The “definitive“ Cochrane review questioned whether general health checks in adults reduce morbidity and mortality from disease. It did not include geriatric trials. It did not study the value of the doctor-patient relationship. Most of the studies were not conducted in Canada, and according to the authors, “most of the trials were old, which makes the results less applicable to today`s settings because the treatments used for conditions and risk factors have changed.“
To be exact, nine of the fourteen studies included were conducted over thirty-five years ago. The most recent study was initiated twenty-five years ago. That`s like current Habs General Manager Marc Bergevin conducting the 2016 draft based on scouting reports from Sam Pollock and Irving Grundman in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Cochrane Review further qualifies its findings, commenting that “because the majority of the included studies were unblinded with considerable loss to follow-up, analysis of outcomes other than death and hospitalization may be subject to bias.“
Even the Canadian Task Force on the Periodic Health Examination from 1979, purportedly anti- check-up, recommended “ a specific strategy comprising a lifetime health care plan based on a set of age- and sex-related health protection packages.“ Maybe not annually, but more selectively.
Scientific meta-analyses are only as good as the data that is entered. There is lots of talk about the importance of Corsi scores in hockey, but as far as I can tell, neither the Pittsburgh Penguins nor the San Jose Sharks lead the NHL informatics race. Nevertheless, one of these two teams will be raise the Stanley Cup.
Interestingly, if experts are going to quote the merits of the Maritime experience, in which journal has this well-designed experiment been published?
In the end, we are quoting weak medical data from a generation ago, in another jurisdiction, with poor follow-up. None of these studies examine the essence of why general check-ups really matter. Seeing your family doctor on a routine basis fosters a trusting, lasting relationship. It does not exist to order tests; its existence provides comfort and security, knowledge and understanding. Health promotion is not a brochure or a pep-talk: it is a collaborative effort to live better. It is not a sprint, but a marathon.
Honestly, do “experts“ really expect family doctors to do a prostate exam because the patient conveniently limped in with an ankle sprain? Or discuss colorectal screening while the patient is febrile with a bad chest infection?
Air Canada (hopefully) does not wait for the airplane to make funny noises before checking it out. They don`t wait for one wing to fall off before checking the other. Routine maintenance is neither a luxury nor superfluous – it is common sense. Let`s not embrace a crisis-initiated medical model – but improve our efforts towards health promotion. Let`s design a system that rewards doctors for keeping healthy people healthy.
In the end, all the analysis to devalue the annual check-up simply cannot compete with the primal benefit of nurturing a meaningful, trusting, patient-physician relationship. Studies, even “scientific“ ones, need to be understood and properly applied.
Consider the 2003 systemic review of parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge published in the prestigious British Medical Journal. Despite a rigorous review, the authors “were unable to identify any randomised controlled trials of parachute intervention.“ As such, they concluded, “the effectiveness of parachutes has not been subjected to rigorous evaluation by using randomized controlled trials. Advocates of evidence based medicine have criticized the adoption of interventions evaluated by using only observational data. We think that everyone might benefit if the most radical protagonists of evidence based medicine organized and participated in a double blind, randomized, placebo controlled, crossover trial of the parachute.”
Please use a parachute – and please continue to see your family physician for general check-ups.