Which 'health check programmes for the assessment of cardiovascular risk factors and disease could be used to prevent illness and improve health in countries with universal healthcare? A systematic umbrella review

Objectives To identify and synthesise evidence pertaining to 'health check' programmes for the assessment of cardiovascular risk factors and disease delivered to adult populations in countries with universal healthcare. Design A systematic umbrella review was undertaken.

The protocol for this systematic umbrella review was registered on the PROSPERO registry and was undertaken based on Cochrane guidance and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline. Data sources Medline, Embase, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Scopus, Google Scholar and Health Management Information Consortium (HMIC) were searched.

These searches identified records published between January 2009 and February 2025. Eligibility criteria The inclusion criteria for the review were as follows: population - adults aged ≥18years; intervention - health checks including the assessment of cardiovascular risk factors and disease; comparators - non-recipients, variations of health checks and within-person pre/post assessments; outcomes - uptake and diagnosis rates, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and related clinical and behavioural risk factors, referral changes, and barriers and facilitators to uptake.