THE REPRESENTATIVE body for Irish general practitioners has strongly criticised a health screening company for targeting vulnerable people with what it termed “crass” advertising.
Dr Mel Bates, chairman of the communications committee of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) and a family doctor in Fairview, Dublin, said doctors were concerned at the approach taken by Life Line Screening and other health screening operators in “peddling health screening” in the absence of evidence that it is of medical benefit.
“In the tradition of the snake oil merchants of old, this group arrive in a community and promise health benefits for their products and then move on. There is nothing illegal about this. It is a case of caveat emptor, buyer beware,” he said.
Life Line Screening strongly rejected the claims.
Dr Bates said the college was especially concerned at the contents of a circular sent to homes in Dublin by Life Line Screening, advertising a stroke screening service at a clinic in Ballyfermot Civic Centre next Tuesday.
The flyer, headlined “We could help you avoid a stroke in about an hour” offers a “vascular screening package” for €169. It says the test will screen for stroke, abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA – a swelling of the main artery in the body), atrial fibrillation (a heart rhythm abnormality) and peripheral arterial disease – where blockages occur in blood vessels in the legs.
Joelle Reizes, communications director of Life Line Screening in Texas, described Dr Bates’s comments as “an unfortunate representation of our service and our company”. She said the firm provided screening throughout the US and had started screening in the UK in September 2007.
She confirmed Life Line had begun operating in the Republic in the past month. “Our goal is to provide an invitation to a preventive screening. If the individual would like to participate, that is their choice. The goal is not to scare or exaggerate, but to inform.”
A target age group is not specified in the circular, but Ms Reizes told The Irish Times"the conditions for which we screen tend to affect those aged 50 and over".
Asked about the qualifications of those who carry out the tests, she said they were conducted by “sonographers/vascular technologists under rigorous clinical oversight by a clinical manager”. All tests are reviewed by a consultant radiologist, she said.
When asked whether there was any research evidence that this form of screening reduced mortality, the Life Line communications director referred The Irish Times to a Cochrane Library review of screening for AAA, published in 2007. This comprehensive study concludes that “there is evidence of significant reduction in mortality from AAA in men aged 65 to 79 years who undergo ultrasound screening. There is insufficient evidence to demonstrate benefits in women. The cost effectiveness may be acceptable, but needs further expert analysis.”
Dr Bates said there was a need for the Health Information and Quality Authority to regulate the activities of health screening operators in the Republic.