Medical screening involves administering tests to people with specific risk factors for diseases. Tests can be advanced scans or a series of questions. Screening can occur during routine doctor visits or be offered by employers. Age and other factors are taken into account for cardiovascular disease and cancer screenings. Children are screened for various conditions, and sexually active women receive gynecological screening. Workers in hazardous environments may be screened for exposure to materials, and some companies screen for drug use.
Often, medical screening involves administering tests to people who fit a certain profile or who have heightened risk factors for a specific type of disease. These screenings can occur during routine doctor visits, or doctors can remind patients that it’s time to get tested for specific things. The tests can be advanced scans or they could be a series of questions and can look for a plethora of diseases, although each test can only focus on a specific area. Sometimes medical screening occurs outside the scope of standard scrutiny and is instead performed or offered by employers to make sure those working in areas with higher disease risk factors remain healthy.
Some types of medical screening are done on specific age groups who are at an increased risk for a variety of diseases. For example, breast cancer screening, which can begin in midlife, involves mammograms to look for evidence of cancers. Depending on the agency recommending the screening, this could be done on an annual basis. If a woman has additional risk factors for breast cancer, such as having close relatives or a family history of early-stage breast cancer, standard screening guidelines may be ignored and mammograms may start earlier and be performed on a more regular basis. Note that both gender and age are taken into account, and genetics could be part of the decision about when to start these screenings.
Age and other factors can be part of medical screening for cardiovascular disease, and testing can take various forms depending on the degree of risk identified. Usually, blood tests and blood pressure are the first methods of screening for higher heart attack risk factors. The presence of high blood cholesterol, evidence of diabetes, and other current conditions may prompt more extensive screening such as echocardiograms, exercise testing, or even an angiogram to be recommended.
Throughout infancy, children will be screened for a variety of conditions. Vision and hearing tests are done at specific times to look for evidence of severe vision problems. Many optometrists and ophthalmologists recommend slightly more thorough tests with an eye doctor every year. Girls are screened for scoliosis in their early teens, and boys are often checked for hernias. Some of these screens can be part of exams at school and don’t even take place in a doctor’s office.
Sexually active young women are likely to experience different types of medical screening when receiving gynecological care. They can be checked for STDs, have Pap smears to look for evidence of cervical cancer, and receive counseling on disease prevention, birth control options, and vaccinations designed to prevent contracting human papillomavirus (HPV) which can cause some forms of cervical cancer.
In work environments where hazardous materials are routinely used, all workers or those who have direct contact with these materials may be medically screened on a regular basis to ensure that no one is getting more than acceptable exposure. Similarly, some companies have such high-risk types of work that they routinely screen employees for drug use to make sure no employee is abusing drugs. In the last example, such employees would likely be fired if positive, but in the first case, an employee who tests positive for hazardous substances might be referred to a doctor, reassigned to an area where certain materials are not being used, or given medical care, such as necessary.
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