Does screening for asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction prevent the development of heart failure in high-risk groups?
Screening high-risk groups for asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction to prevent heart failure fulfills screening principles and merits further evaluation.
A programme to detect and treat asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction would seem to fulfil all five principles of screening. Indeed, such a programme would appear to be at least as firmly based as those already in existence for, for example, cervical and breast cancer. Further evaluation of the screening of high risk groups to detect asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction with the aim of giving treatment to prevent the development of heart failure is merited.
McMurray et al. (Tue,) studied this question.