Are your medical screening tests up to date?
Being proactive in our health care is vitally important. By knowing our family’s health history and what we may be vulnerable to as we age helps give our GPs a hand in monitoring us for problems our parents or siblings may have developed: obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, heart conditions, dementia, and the various cancers.
Medical science has made such advances that non-invasive screening tests are available that can detect many conditions. It is wise to take advantage of all of them, depending on your gender, age and other health conditions. The following guidelines are for the general population. However, it is always best to discuss your own particular conditions, needs and timetable for screening with your own GP.
For women:
- Pap Smears are advised for all women who have ever been sexually active every two years until age 65, as they are able to detect cervical cancer.
- Australia provides free Mammograms for women 50 – 69 every two years in the effort to detect early breast tumours; women 40 and over may also receive screening, by request.
- Your bone mineral density should be monitored by X-ray starting around age 50, so that you can exercise, take calcium with vitamin D and any prescribed medication if any thinning is found.
For men:
- PSA blood tests can detect ‘prostate specific antigen’, which is produced by prostate tumours. Because many tumours of the prostate are very slow growing, and a man may be better off without the side-effects of surgery, this test is considered controversial. But many physicians believe it is better for a man to know, then make an informed choice whether to treat it or not. Discuss the issues with your GP when you turn 50. The test is cheap and painless, and could put your wife’s mind at ease, as well as your own.
For both sexes:
- A general health check-up every year including weight, height, and flu shot from your GP.
- A complete eye exam every two years conducted by an eye specialist.
- Blood pressure readings taken at each visit to your GP can ensure that borderline or high blood pressure is treated quickly, as it is a risk factor for stroke and dementia.
- You should know your cholesterol levels – for the good cholesterol (HDL), the bad cholesterol (LDL), triglycerides and total cholesterol. High cholesterol is a risk factor for a number of cardiovascular conditions, and must be treated aggressively with exercise, diet and medication.
- Blood sugar/glucose tests at least every 3 years after age 45, to detect Type 2 Diabetes.
- A yearly FOBT (fecal occult blood test) done at home can be used to detect any blood in the stool that might suggest bowel cancer. If the test is positive a follow up colonoscopy is advised. Colonoscopies are advised every 10 years after age 50.
- For checking your thyroid a 5-yearly TSH test is recommended; this is part of a blood screen.
- A Hearing test is recommended every 3 years after age 50.
- An all over Skin Cancer check, by a Dr trained to recognise skin cancer, is advised every year, especially here in Australia where the sun is most fierce and skin cancer rates high.
- Dental check-ups are recommended once or twice a year, with regular cleaning and all work needed kept up to date.
You could take this list to your GP to discuss any medical screening tests that you may need to keep up to date.
