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SOME CONSEQUENCES OF MASS HEALTH EXAMINATIONS IN THE BUSSELTON COMMUNITY
Author(s) -
Cullen K. J.,
McCall M. G.,
Stenhouse N. S.,
Welborn T. A.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1972.tb116457.x
Subject(s) - dieting , medicine , denial , disease , gerontology , demography , psychology , obesity , weight loss , sociology , psychoanalysis
Mass health examinations in 1966 in Busselton, Western Australia, have proved to be an efficient means of detecting specific abnormalities in an entire community. Twelve per cent of subjects have reported to their doctor because of a mass health examination finding, and 13% to 20% have reported changes of habit in smoking, in exercise or in diet over three years. With regard to objective consequences of mass health examinations, the numbers of subjects with raised diastolic blood pressures, raised serum cholesterol levels and lowered hæmoglobin values were little changed. Busselton people were not selectively affected by the contrasting attitudes and personal examples of their doctors in regard to smoking, exercise and dieting. People were not influenced either by the doctor's “do as I say” or by his “do as I do”, which suggested that effective methods of influencing vascular disease will need to involve little self‐denial or effort.