Preventive home visits to elderly people

摘要

In preventive health services the old axiom that lack of evidence is not evidence of lack is important. No one should be surprised that the meta-analysis undertaken by Elkan et al (p 719), the systematic reviews by Stuck et al and van Haastregt et al, and the randomised controlled trials undertaken by these and other researchers produce apparently conflicting results. Most importantly, the lack of a clear justification for preventive home visits to older people, in terms of the outcomes of mortality, institu-tionalisation, and particular measures of function, should not be used as an excuse for discontinuing the service.