Routine Health Screenings: Keep Your Health on Track
Getting regular health care and screenings can help prevent serious health problems or help you catch them early, when you may have more treatment options. Denise Mayo, MD, a Mass General Brigham Medical Group internal medicine doctor, explains how your primary care provider (PCP) can help keep your health on track.
“An annual preventative care visit gives your PCP the opportunity to address your overall physical and behavioral health and make recommendations for how you might improve or sustain your health,” says Dr. Mayo, who cares for patients at Primary Care of Wellesley in Massachusetts. “Screenings during your annual exam are an important part of maintaining your health and can be lifesaving.”
Why is an annual health screening important?
If you get a physical exam every year, your PCP can monitor any changes to your health over time and address any concerns sooner rather than later.
Blood pressure, weight, and health changes
At your physical, your PCP checks your blood pressure, height, and weight, and asks about any changes in your health. This is a great opportunity to share any concerns you may have. Your provider can screen you for common physical and behavioral health conditions and order any additional screening tests you may need.
“As a PCP, I feel the greatest value of an annual exam is the opportunity for me to get to know my patient as a whole human being, so if illness does strike, I have a better understanding of how best to address it for the unique person in front of me,” Dr. Mayo adds.
Vaccinations to prevent illness
Ask your PCP if you’re up to date with your vaccinations. Vaccines are one of the best ways to stay healthy. For example, it’s important to get the COVID-19 vaccine and the flu vaccine every year. Depending on your health history and age, you may need routine vaccines for tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), hepatitis A and B, human papillomavirus (HPV), shingles, and pneumonia.
Your PCP also uses this time to ensure that your medication and allergy lists are up to date. Be sure to bring your medications and supplements with you for review.
What is a health screening?
Screening tests are an important part of preventive health care. They check for health conditions and diseases before you have symptoms. If a screening test shows you may have a new health condition, additional tests can confirm or rule out a diagnosis. Screening tests can find conditions early, when they’re easier for providers to treat. For many conditions, lifestyle changes can keep them under control.
Common preventive health screenings
The screening tests you need depend on your age, your sex, your family health history, and whether you have risk factors for certain diseases. Some conditions that doctors screen for include:
Common health conditions
- Diabetes
- Depression
- High blood pressure or hypertension
- High cholesterol
- Osteoporosis
- Overweight and obesity
- Abdominal aneurysm in men or people assigned male at birth (AMAB) who have ever smoked
Cancer screening
- Breast cancer
- Cervical cancer in women or people assigned female at birth (AFAB)
- Colorectal cancer (rectal or colon cancer)
- Lung cancer in people who smoke or have smoked in the past
- Prostate cancer in men or people AMAB
Infectious disease screening
How to detect cancer early
Cancer screenings save lives by helping doctors detect cancer early, when treatment may be more effective. Talk to your PCP about:
Breast cancer screening
Regular breast exams and mammograms are the best tests doctors have to find breast cancer early, sometimes up to 3 years before it can be felt. The American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends that all women and people AFAB decide with their provider if they should start regular screening mammograms at age 40.
Women or people AFAB who are:
- 40 to 44 years old have the option to get mammograms every year
- 45 to 54 years old should get mammograms every year
- 55 years or older can continue with annual screening or switch to screening every other year
If you have a family history of breast cancer, your provider may recommend additional screening, like genetic testing. New research also shows black women face disparities related to breast cancer, so your provider may recommend you start breast cancer screening earlier depending on your risk.
Colorectal cancer screening
If you have a family history of colorectal cancer (rectal or colon cancer), the American Society of Colon & Rectal Surgeons recommends you get your first colonoscopy at 40 years old, or 10 years prior to when your immediate family member was diagnosed. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends that all others start screening at age 45, including those without symptoms. People who are between 76 and 85 years old should discuss with their provider if continued screening is right for them.
Rates of colorectal cancer are increasing in young adults, so it’s important to talk to your provider about when to begin screenings and decide which cancer screening test is right for you.
Cervical cancer screening
Women or people AFAB should start screening for cervical cancer at age 21, according to the USPSTF. Cervical cancer screening involves cervical cytology (also known as a pap smear or pap test) and/or a high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) test. If you have HPV, this test checks if you have a high-risk type that can cause cervical cancer.
- For women aged 21 to 29 years: The USPSTF recommends you get a pap test every 3 years.
- For women aged 30 to 65 years: The USPSTF recommends you get a pap test every 3 years, an hrHPV test every 5 years, or both a pap test and an hrHPV test every 5 years.
Even if you got the HPV vaccine, you should follow these recommendations and talk to your PCP about screening for cervical cancer.
Lung cancer screening
The USPSTF now recommends annual lung cancer screening for people who:
- Are 50 to 80 years old
- Currently smoke or have quit smoking within the last 15 years
- Have smoked at least 20-pack-years
You and your provider can calculate your pack years by multiplying the number of years you smoked times the number of packs you smoked per day. For example, you have 20-pack-years if you smoked the equivalent of a pack a day for 20 years, or you smoked 2 packs a day for 10 years, etc.
Prostate cancer screening
Talk to your provider about whether or not prostate cancer screening may be right for you. Your provider reviews the risks, benefits, and limitations of prostate cancer screening so that you can make an informed decision through shared decision-making.
If you decide to be screened, according to the ACS, men or people AMAB should have their first prostate cancer screening at 50 years old.
If you’re at higher risk of prostate cancer, like if you have a close relative who had it at a younger age, the ACS recommends that you begin testing as early as 40 years old. African American men are more likely to get prostate cancer and often have worse outcomes, so programs like the Prostate Cancer Outreach Program, part of Mass General Brigham’s United Against Racism initiative, can help Black men get screened earlier.
Prostate cancer screening involves a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and may also involve a digital rectal exam (DRE). Based on your results, your provider tells you how frequently you should be screened for prostate cancer moving forward and whether or not additional testing is needed.
What if my health screening tests show I may have a new condition or disease?
Your PCP explains your screening test results to you. They let you know if you need any additional bloodwork or imaging to evaluate the screening test results. Your provider may refer you to specialist to review your screening tests and perform or review diagnostic tests.
“A positive screening test doesn’t mean that you have the condition for which you were being screened. Sometimes a screening test is a ‘false positive,’” Dr. Mayo explains. “If you do screen positive for a condition, however, it’s important that you follow your provider’s recommendations for follow up and evaluation.”
At Mass General Brigham, your PCP and specialists coordinate your care following health screenings.
Our PCPs collaborate with specialists and partner with you to make sure you have access to care at the right place and time. The Patient Gateway portal also helps you see your test results quickly, schedule follow-up appointments, communicate with your care team, and more.
What if I’m concerned about changes in my health?
If you have concerns about changes in your health at any time, contact your PCP. They can help determine if you need a checkup, bloodwork, or testing to diagnose any new conditions that may need treatment. Trust your instincts and don’t delay care.
“Your PCP is your partner in health,” says Dr. Mayo. “Get seen regularly and be sure to reach out when you have questions or concerns. Follow your PCP’s advice about additional testing, nutrition, sleep, and exercise. You and your PCP share the same goal – getting you healthy and keeping you well.”
