Is Master Health Checkup the Answer to Tackle the Rising Non-Communicable Disease Burden in India? - A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Master Health Checkup (MHC) is a battery of tests done to detect and identify Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) early. But it should also be noted that some tests in MHC have no known benefits for otherwise healthy adults. This study was conducted to evaluate the usefulness of MHC in a hospital based setting. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 337 subjects aged 18 years and above who attended the MHC Clinic during the study period. They were subjected to interview and various biochemical investigations to estimate the number of newly diagnosed, clinically relevant abnormalities among apparently normal adults using standard guidelines. Categorical data summarized as frequencies with percentages. Chi-square test was used to compare proportions. RESULTS: Among the 337 participants, 244 were apparently normal with a gender distribution as 109 (44.7%) males and 135 (55.3%) females. The study was able to newly detect 12.3% with Type 2 diabetes, 37.7% in pre-diabetic stage, 54.1% with anaemia, 42.2% with dyslipidemia, 11.5% with hypothyroidism, 27% with liver disorders and 6.5% with renal disorders, about which the participants were unaware of. Females also had statistically significant association with dyslipidaemia and hypothyroidism compared to males with a p-value of 0.004, 0.026 respectively. Apparently normal participants aged > 35 years had strong statistical association with diabetic status and dyslipidemia compared to those aged between 18 – 35 years (p-value 0.001). CONCLUSION: Based on the results from the study it is evident that a significant number of NCDs were newly identified by Master Health checkup (MHC).