Milestones for Health Screening: Age Group
A guide to understanding which tests that needs to be carried out in different age groups to lead a healthy lifestyle.
Health screening and milestone health checks
Preventive health care is becoming more and more common among people nowadays, as it highlights the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. Doctors, mainly, are requesting patients to undergo regular health checks to help them stay on top of their health. However, a “general check-up” is not the best solution to have better health outcomes. Sometimes a simple blood or imaging test will have no benefit in diagnosing life-threatening diseases at early stages. This is why it is important for doctors and patients to educate each other in identifying the milestone health checks and when it is suitable to have them.
Age: 20-30 years old
Any fit and healthy young adults in the age of 20 to 30 years old should discuss with their physicians about preventing chronic diseases as they age further. This usually involves their lifestyle choices and health behaviours such as dieting, sleeping, smoking and drinking, and exercise levels. Undergoing specific tests such as checking blood pressure and cholesterol levels will determine the risk of developing conditions including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer and more.
Most young adults are also unaware of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) as they are at the age where they are sexually active with their partners. They should go through an HIV test to detect any infection. Similarly, young women should take the cervical screening test to identify any pre-cancerous cells.
Age: 40-50 years old
When reaching this age, both men and women have to undergo a few important health checks such as blood pressure, cholesterol, kidneys, diabetes, skin cancer, eye exams, to name a few. Blood pressure tests are common due to lifestyle choices during young age, so it takes effect in this age group. The same goes for cholesterol and diabetes tests, which is when men and women start changing their eating and exercise habits.
For women, regular breast screening – mammograms - can be beneficial in picking up breast cancer early.For men, prostate cancer is a huge medical issue and it is advised to have regular screenings to detect and prevent it.
Age: 65 years old above
Men and women in this age group are usually recommended to have several immunizations, including yearly flu shots, tetanus booster and influenza, as the immunity starts to decrease and risk of serious illness increases.
Other preventive checks include eye check for vision, dental health, hearing tests and bone density tests that can lead to osteoporosis and menopause.