Health checks, Fertility, Adjustment
Inside Health
BBC
4.4 • 575 Ratings
🗓️ 29 March 2016
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
NHS health checks or 'mid-life MOTs' have hit the headlines as new research claims they are a success. The aim is prevention - of diabetes, heart attacks and strokes - but their introduction has been controversial amid criticism they are not evidence based or cost effective. Resident sceptic Dr Margaret McCartney debates the issues with National Clinical Advisor Dr Matt Kearney.
And putting the family back into planning. As more couples leave it later before starting a family there is growing concern from fertility experts that many people don't know enough about when female fertility starts to decline. Professor Adam Balen and Professor Joyce Harper discuss the issues. And how accurate is the perception, often reported in the media, that fertility 'drops off a cliff' in the mid to late thirties? Professor Richard Anderson reviews the so called 'broken stick' study, a mathematical model which first defined the sharp drop off of female fertility.
And another instalment of Inside Language where Dr Margaret McCartney and Professor Carl Heneghan examine the terms used in evidence based medicine and why they matter. This week, adjustment and how researchers allow for factors that might skew their findings.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, |
| 0:05.4 | The Traitors Uncloaked. But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's |
| 0:10.6 | Saturday bonus episodes, the Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Ryland, and comedy specials |
| 0:16.2 | from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffel and Rommas Shranger Nathan. However, and maybe I'm biased, it's really all about the traitors uncloked. |
| 0:24.3 | So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:29.4 | Hello and thank you for downloading this programme which was first broadcast on the 29th of March 2016. |
| 0:35.5 | This is the last in the current series of Inside Health, but we will be back in the summer. |
| 0:40.0 | Make sure you don't miss an episode by subscribing to the automatic podcast service if you haven't already. |
| 0:45.7 | Details on the Inside Health page of the Radio 4 website. |
| 0:49.1 | Enjoy the program. |
| 0:50.2 | Coming up today, fertility. |
| 0:51.7 | Should we be doing more to put the family back into family planning? |
| 0:56.9 | And how researchers adjust for confounding factors. Carl Hennigan and Margaret McCartney are back with another inside language |
| 1:03.9 | to help you interpret the real story behind the headlines. But first, NHS health checks. |
| 1:10.8 | These midlife MOTs have been in the news following the publication of research, |
| 1:15.3 | suggesting the 7-year-old program has already prevented over 2,000 strokes and heart attacks. |
| 1:21.1 | The checks vary depending on where you live. |
| 1:23.7 | In England, they're offered to everyone between the ages of 40 and 74. |
| 1:27.4 | In Scotland, it's 40 to 64 in Wales, to anyone over 50. |
| 1:31.9 | Whatever the age, the aims are much the same, |
| 1:34.2 | to spot problems like high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes |
| 1:37.2 | before they might otherwise become evident. |
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