The effectiveness of lifestyle-related health screening: a 2 year follow-up study of doctors and teachers.

The effects of screening a group of 98 general practitioners and teachers for fitness, body mass index, serum cholesterol and lifestyle measures--smoking, alcohol consumption, diet and exercise habits were assessed 6 and 24 months later by postal questionnaire (response rate 98%). There was no significant difference for any screened measure between zero months and 6 or 24 months except that subjects found to have a raised cholesterol at 0 months were subsequently more likely to reduce the proportion of fat in their diet. There were no significant differences between screened subjects compared with a control group of non-screened doctors and teachers at 24 months. The number of subjects with abnormal measurements found at the screening session who altered to measurements within the normal range was equal to the number of subjects who changed from normal to abnormal measurements over the 2 year period of study.