Preventive activities in middle age

What are the key equity issues and who is at risk?

• Midlife, between 45 and 64 years of age, is particularly a time of determining patient risk factors and offering screening for health conditions. Multimorbidity, particularly physical–mental health comorbidity, is an important issue in middle aged populations. Social disadvantage can hasten the onset of multimorbidity by about 10–15 years, suggesting screening should start earlier in high-risk populations, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (eg at 30 years of age). This may be a critical time for preventive interventions to reduce later life chronic illness.¹⁰
• The impact of income-related inequalities on the prevalence of common mental health disorders and psychological distress is particularly seen in middle aged people.¹¹

What can GPs do?

• Refer to the general principles of providing patient education and supporting health literacy in disadvantaged groups.
• Be aware that disadvantaged groups may be less likely to access health checks,¹² so proactive efforts to go outside the practice (eg to workplaces) may be needed or preventive care may be built in opportunistically to routine consultations.
• Actively manage vulnerable patients by recalling patients by phone or text messages for preventive care.

Table 4.1

Age-related health checks for low-risk patients in middle age

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