In short
A longevity consultation is one appointment that produces three things: a calculated risk, a short list of tests that are actually justified, and two or three changes with numbers attached.
Every test proposed has to clear the same three questions before it is ordered.
- Does this condition cause real harm, often enough in someone like you?
- Would finding it early lead to a better outcome than finding it later?
- Is the test good enough not to cause more trouble than it prevents?
Treatment Overview
What happens in the appointment?
Roughly half of it is history. What you do, how you sleep, how much you sit, what you drink, what your family has had and at what age, and what you are actually worried about.
That history determines which tests are worth doing. Ordering the panel first and interpreting it afterwards is the wrong way round, because incidence is low for most conditions in most people.
Why is the test list short?
Because unnecessary tests are not neutral. In a group without symptoms, most conditions are rare, so a large share of positive results from a weak test will be false, and each one leads to further testing with its own risks.
People also systematically overestimate the benefits of tests and underestimate the harms, which is why the reasoning is made explicit rather than assumed.
What is normally included?
| Cardiovascular risk | Blood pressure, full lipid panel, glucose or HbA1c, kidney function and weight, run through a validated calculator |
| Lifetime risk | Added between 30 and 59 when the 10 year figure is low or borderline, because a low 10 year risk can sit alongside a high lifetime one |
| Age appropriate screening | Only the tests with evidence for someone your age and sex |
| Symptom directed tests | Where you have an actual symptom, which is investigated as a symptom rather than folded into a screening package |
What is deliberately not included?
- Whole body scans, which mostly find things that were never going to matter
- Biological age tests, which are not standardised and do not change what should be done
- Broad hormone or micronutrient screens ordered without a question attached
- Repeat calcium scoring to check whether treatment is working, which does not add useful information
How is the plan decided?
By risk band. Your calculated 10 year risk puts you in one of four groups, and each has a defined answer, from lifestyle only at under 3 per cent to treatment without further stratification at 10 per cent or more.
Where the decision is genuinely uncertain, usually at borderline or intermediate risk, a coronary calcium score often settles it in one direction or the other.
Who Is a Good Candidate?
- You are 30 or older and have never had your cardiovascular risk formally calculated
- You have been offered a health package and want to know which parts of it are actually worth doing
- There is early heart disease, diabetes or cancer in your family
- You want a plan you can act on rather than a folder of results
- Previous results were flagged as borderline and nobody explained what to do about them
- An active symptom, which needs a diagnostic appointment rather than a preventive one
- Chest pain or breathlessness on exertion, which needs assessing now
- You are looking for growth hormone, unlicensed peptides or infusion based anti ageing treatment, which are not offered
What Happens During the Consultation
-
1
History, in detail
Activity, sitting time, sleep, alcohol, smoking, diet, medication, and a family history with ages attached. This narrows what is worth testing before anything is ordered.
-
2
Examination and baseline measures
Blood pressure taken properly, weight, and a focused examination. Blood pressure is confirmed outside the clinic before any diagnosis of hypertension is made.
-
3
A justified test list
Each test named, with the reason it is being done and what an abnormal result would lead to. Tests that would not change anything are named and left out.
-
4
Results, decisions and an interval
Your risk band, two or three specific changes with numbers attached, and a date for the next review: three to five years for cardiovascular risk if low, yearly if not.
Program Structure & Follow-Up
What happens after the first appointment?
You get the results with an interpretation, not a portal link. Each abnormal or borderline value comes with what it means and whether it needs anything done.
How often you are seen after that
| Under 50, no chronic conditions | About every three years |
| 50 and over | Yearly |
| Any chronic condition | Regular review regardless of age |
| Cardiovascular risk | Every three to five years from 20, or yearly if borderline risk or above |
| On new medication | Sooner, for monitoring and dose adjustment |
Is more frequent better?
No. There is no evidence base for an optimal check up frequency, and general health checks in randomised trials did not reduce mortality. Shorter intervals mostly generate more borderline results.
What if something needs following up?
It is followed up specifically, with a named test and a date, rather than being rolled into the next annual package.
Benefits, Limits & Safety
What does the consultation actually deliver?
A number you did not have, a decision on treatment that is based on it, and a short list of changes rather than a general instruction to be healthier.
It also delivers a list of things you do not need, which is often the more valuable half.
What are its limits?
A consultation cannot make you low risk. It tells you where you stand and what moves the number, and most of the moving is done by you between appointments.
General health checks improved blood pressure, cholesterol and BMI in trials but did not reduce mortality on their own. The benefit comes from acting on the findings, not from the checking.
How are risks communicated?
In absolute terms, because people understand absolute risk better than relative risk. Being told a treatment cuts your risk by half means little without knowing half of what.
Where the decision is genuinely balanced, you are told that it is balanced rather than being pushed one way.
What is refused
- Growth hormone, unlicensed peptides and intravenous anti ageing infusions
- Compounded hormone mixtures
- Whole body imaging as a routine screen
- Screening you are unlikely to benefit from, which is more common than most people realise
What you leave with
A calculated risk band, a justified test list, results explained in absolute terms, and two or three changes with numbers attached.
How often
Every three years under 50, yearly from 50, cardiovascular risk every three to five years from 20 and yearly at borderline risk or above.
Not offered
Growth hormone, unlicensed peptides, anti ageing infusions, routine whole body scans and biological age testing.
Cost & Program Investment
The consultation is quoted individually and each test is quoted before it is ordered, so you know the total before anything happens. There is no fixed package and no tiers, because the right set of tests depends on your age and risk rather than on a price point. If a test would not change anything for you, you will be told so rather than sold it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Long enough for the history to be taken properly, because that is what determines which tests are worth doing. Ordering the panel first and interpreting it afterwards is the wrong sequence.
It depends which tests are ordered, and you will be told in advance. A calcium score, if one is indicated, needs no fasting, no contrast and no medication.
You can ask, but you will be talked through why the tests that do not apply to you are more likely to cause trouble than to help. Most positive results from a weak test in a low risk person are false.
Only if your risk band supports it. Below 3 per cent usually not, at 5 to 10 per cent usually yes, and in between it depends on risk enhancers, lifetime risk and sometimes a calcium score.
Then it becomes a diagnostic appointment, not a preventive one. Symptoms are investigated on their own terms rather than being absorbed into a screening plan.
No. Neither is offered for anti ageing purposes, and neither has the evidence base that would justify it.
That is a real result and it is used. It sets the interval for the next review and moves the focus to the modifiable factors, which is where almost all of the available benefit is.
Evidence
Where this information comes from
Every figure on this page is taken from the sources below. All of them are free to read, so you can check them yourself.
This page is general medical information and does not replace a personal consultation. Trial results are averages across large groups, not a prediction for any one person.