Give the Gift of Health this Christmas with Randox Health
Give the Gift of Health this Christmas with Randox Health
Showing you care comes in many different packages.
This year, you can give the ‘gift of health’ to someone you love, through a Randox Health Gift Card.
Randox Health has the most comprehensive health screening programmes in the world, as well as a wide range of specialised tests. The Everyman, Everywoman and Signature programmes carry out up to 350 tests. That means your results deliver a complete understanding of your health: your heart, kidneys, thyroid, fertility, bones and more. And it doesn’t just tell you how you are now, but helps you to manage your health for the future.
Each one of our programmes lasts for twelve months and include personalised health plans, a private consultation with an expert and repeat testing. This unique aspect enables you to see exactly what impact you’re making on your health as you follow our recommendations.
Specialised testing is also available on areas including cardiac health, coeliac autoimmune disease, hormonal health and genetic testing.
The programmes are available at our clinics in London, Holywood and Crumlin, and also through our innovative mobile health clinic. Gift cards can be purchased from as little as £20.
To find out more and purchase the most thoughtful of Christmas presents – a gift card for the ‘gift of health’ – click here.
To book a health screening at a Randox Health clinic in Crumlin, Holywood or London, please call 0800 2545 130.
For further information please contact the Randox PR Team by emailing randoxpr@randox.com or phoning 028 9442 2413
Prepare for a stroke or take action to prevent one?
“If you experience any neurological symptom that comes on suddenly and is unfamiliar (eg not like your normal migraine) then you should seek urgent medical advice. And take an Aspirin (unless you’re allergic to it).” That’s the advice today from Dr Mark Porter, writing in The Times about what to do in the event you think you’re suffering a stroke.
It’s good advice to keep a packet in your medicine cabinet, but did you know that it’s thought 91% of strokes are avoidable?
What is a stroke?
For the brain to function properly, it needs the oxygen and nutrients provided by the blood. Stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain bursts or, more commonly, when a blockage develops which leaves the supply of the blood to the brain limited or completely obstructed and without treatment, cells in the brain quickly begin to die.
There are 3 different types of stroke:
- Ischaemic Stroke
- Haemorrhagic Stroke
- Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA)
Avoidable risk factors
Research was carried out by McMaster University Canada – it compared the lifestyles of people who had a stroke with those who had not, involving nearly 27,000 participants from 32 countries. It found that 9 out of 10 strokes worldwide could be caused by risk factors – many of which can be avoided:
- Lowering blood pressure
- Exercising
- Eating healthily
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Preventing diabetes
- Lowering cholesterol
- Cutting down on alcohol
- Stopping smoking
- Lowering stress
- Taking preventive medication for any heart arrhythmia
The most important modifiable risk is high blood pressure, increasing the risk by 47.9%, which is why it’s the key target across the world for reducing strokes.
Randox Health can help
Randox Health clinics offer you personalised preventive health programmes that provide a full profile of your entire body’s health, including diabetes health, lung health, liver health, heart health and many more areas. Upon receiving your results, you are given a programme to follow to help improve any areas of your health which are not ‘in the green’ on our scale. This helps you to prevent future illnesses and any unwanted surprises such as a stroke. We’ve helped over 3000 people in our clinics to date – book your test today.
Heart disease study suggests benefits of testing toddlers
Heart disease experts have suggested today that toddlers get tested for an inherited form of the condition, from as early as twelve months old.
Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a genetic disorder characterised by very high cholesterol levels, specifically very high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL – so-called ‘bad’ cholesterol). FH is the main cause of heart disease and increases by 10-fold the chance of someone having a heart attack under the age of 40. However people who have been diagnosed can control their cholesterol levels by taking a daily dose of statins.
Currently testing is carried out when an adult who had has heart problems is found to be FH positive. Doctors then recommend testing for others in the family. It’s estimated that currently between 80-90% of FH cases remain undiagnosed.
However a new study led by a team from Queen Mary University of London took a different approach. They tested a group of one-year-old children for known genetic mutations which are linked to FH. Out of 10,000, 40 were found to be FH positive. Not only has this group of children been identified early, but because the condition is genetic, one or both of their parents must have it too. For every one positive FH test, at least two people were diagnosed.
According to the lead researcher Dr David Wald, preventive diagnostic testing for FH could prevent up to 600 heart attacks a year among the under-40s in England and Wales. He told the BBC,
“This is the only screening method that stands a reasonable chance of covering the whole population and identifying those at highest risk of an early heart attack.”
The broadcaster also spoke to the British Heart Foundation’s Medical Director Professor Sir Nilesh Samani who said,
“Early diagnosis in children is likely to substantially improve treatment of their condition and will help find other family members with FH. But before nationwide screening is adopted by the NHS, more work needs to be done to show it’s a cost-effective way for picking up individuals with FH which will be acceptable to families.”
Randox Biosciences have developed a FH test in partnership with the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust to proactively diagnose FH. Utilised on our patented Biochip Array Technology, our FH arrays simultaneously detect 40 of the most common FH-causing mutations within the LDLR, ApoB and PCSK9 genes, with results available in just three hours.
The test, which is available through Randox Health Clinics, has also been adopted by medical professionals within the NHS including Dr. Colin Graham, recently retired Consultant Clinical Scientist and former Head of the Regional Genetics Lab in the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, who introduced the test within his Belfast Laboratory screen for suspected cases of FH.
He said the availability of this test marked a key milestone in the detection of the condition,
“Current FH diagnostic tests require a large volume of samples to be batched, leading to lengthy turnaround times of two to three months. With the new test, the turnaround time is dramatically reduced, enabling more rapid patient diagnosis. This new test has the potential to enable FH screening to become routine in the clinical setting for improved detection and earlier identification of familial cases.”
Dr. Peter FitzGerald, Managing Director of Randox Laboratories said,
“In the battle against cardiovascular disease, people with FH are on the front line. It is important to raise awareness of FH as many people do not even know that they and their family members have this life-threatening condition. There is so much that can be done to support families with FH and with this readily available and much-needed test, detecting and treating entire families with FH is now possible.”
