Most Important Health Screening Tests

Just because you have screening tests doesn’t mean you are a hypochondriac. Screening medical tests are those tests that, if done correctly and on time, mean you might catch a cancer or other disease early in the course of the disease. Screening tests can actually save lives in many situations. What are the most important screening tests to have? Let’s take a look.

A Pap smear is done on women to detect cervical cancer and to look for HPV infections, which cause cervical cancer. It is done in women who are at least 21 years of age until the age of about 70, provided there have been no recent screening tests. This is a test that every sexually active woman, who hasn’t had a hysterectomy, should have done on a regular basis.

A mammogram should be done on women starting at the age of 40. In some cases, the doctor should recommend annual mammograms, while, in other cases, it should be done every 2-3 years. It detects the presence of cancerous lesions within the breast tissue and can detect them much earlier than lumps that are detected by feel alone.

An ECG or electrocardiogram can tell if you’ve had a heart attack or if your heart is under stress at rest. Better yet, you can have a stress electrocardiogram which assesses stress on your heart under exercise conditions, when your heart is racing. These tests can tell if you are at risk for heart disease or heart arrhythmias.

Blood pressure screening is vital to your health. It can detect hypertension, a common precursor to stroke, heart attack and heart failure. Check your blood pressure every few months at your local pharmacy and every year at your doctor’s office. If you have elevations above 140/90, you may need to be on antihypertensive medication. It may be life saving.

Prostate testing should be done after the age of 50 or so. It involves a digital rectal examination as well as a PSA screening test. It should be done every year. You should be aware of the fact that the PSA test has a great many false positives and false negatives so you need to combine the test with a digital rectal exam.

A fasting blood sugar for diabetes should be checked beginning at age 40-45. It can help detect diabetes in its earlier stages, which can prevent eye, kidney and heart damage as well as blood vessel damage. Along with that, you should have lipid screening for cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides. Elevations in these, too, are precursors to stroke, vascular disease and heart attacks.