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Does having a heart scan motivate people into a healthier lifestyle? A study says no; heart scans have no effect on whether people reduce their coronary risk factors. One of the many entrepreneurial medical businesses that have been set up in recent years has been CAT scanning to screen for heart disease. The idea is that heart scans will detect how much calcium there is in the coronary arteries and, since calcium can be a sign of disease, it may provide a risk measure for a heart attack. At worst, some of the proponents claim, you'll be motivated to change your lifestyle. There are lots of objections to CT heart screening. The main one relates to the risks of the technology itself. Namely, there's a chance that you could be falsely reassured by a negative result or, on the other hand, spooked into unnecessary tests and surgery if you come up positive. And now a trial has looked at whether having a heart scan, using more reliable technology than generally used in Australia, motivates people into a healthier lifestyle. The results? Heart scans made no difference to whether people reduced their coronary risk factors. What did, was being taken in hand and intensively managed by a nurse or dietician to change your ways. So save your money and spend it on a diet or exercise Nazi instead.
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