Tests are performed not only when a person is in pain or troubled by illness, but also when they have no symptoms at all. The main aim of such tests is to maintain good health and prevent diseases in time. “Preventive tests and consultations are a way of taking care of yourself in good time and properly. They are far more useful than waiting until a red light comes on to say that your health is already failing somewhere,” says family doctor Mindaugas Paulius.
Which people need preventive tests?
Preventive tests are recommended at least once a year for everyone, even when you have no complaints. This allows the doctor to monitor your health indicators, compare them with previous ones, notice developing changes in time and give lifestyle or treatment recommendations to avoid more serious conditions or advanced stages of disease. The importance of such tests increases even more in the presence of certain risk factors, which may include age, harmful habits, poor diet, and personal and family medical history.
Which preventive tests are most commonly performed?
Every person has a different health history and risk factors. Based on these, the family doctor can order the appropriate tests. However, the five main preventive tests most commonly performed at the clinic, which provide a good deal of detailed information about a person's health indicators, are:
- complete blood count;
- blood glucose measurement;
- blood cholesterol measurement;
- urine test;
- electrocardiogram.
How quickly are the test results available?
Preventive tests are ordered by the family doctor, who refers you to have them done straight away. It is important that before the glucose and cholesterol tests the patient has not eaten for at least 12 hours, so these tests are best done in the morning. Usually the results of all blood and urine tests are available on the same or the next working day. Electrocardiogram data is visible and analysed immediately.
Recommended paid preventive tests based on individual needs
Family doctors and general practitioners may recommend individually undergoing other, broader blood tests – such as vitamin D levels, the reserves of the microelements Na, K and iron, and food-intolerance tests – in order to answer why a patient has developed deteriorating health, weakness or other similar problems. Incidentally, if elevated cholesterol is found, more frequent monitoring of these blood indicators and an additional lipidogram may be recommended, especially if the person is making a radical effort to change their lifestyle and habits. The doctor may recommend more frequent PSA monitoring (for men) and urine pH testing. More frequent monitoring of your health status through laboratory tests under a doctor's supervision is a commendable choice for a patient, but it is partly paid for additionally.
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