What Are the Benefits of Health Screening?
Health screenings are very important to preventive medical care. They allow doctors to find illness and treat it much earlier than they could otherwise. Patients with high risk factors for screened diseases can make sure they don't acquire the illness as well, and if they do they can treat it early on. However, not all patients can have all health screenings available. Because of high medical costs, certain screenings are only for patients at high risk.
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Benefits
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Health screenings help doctors test high-risk populations for certain diseases to discover any signs of the disease. In cases of cancer, this leads to identification of tumors early on in the disease. Doctors may discover high blood pressure during a regular blood pressure screening. No matter what type of disease doctors discover in a health screening, an early diagnosis and treatment leads to a better prognosis. In fact, many health screenings for disease save lives by starting treatment well before the patient was aware of a problem.
Types
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There are several types of health screenings. Mammograms detect early-staged breast cancer. Blood pressure checks reveal hypertension. Ophthalmologists test for glaucoma and cataracts at regular appointments. Prostate exams may find prostate cancer. Pap smears check for cervical cancer. Blood work may reveal a variety of conditions from diabetes to high cholesterol or triglycerides. An EKG reveals problems with the heart. Skin checks identify possible skin cancer.
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Time Frame
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Most health screening begins in middle age, unless the individual is extremely high-risk. Health screening continues for the patient's whole life to assure that the disease they are at risk for does not occur. For patients at risk for diseases that can occur earlier in life, such as cervical cancer, screening begins much earlier. Additional risk factors for a disease may warrant earlier testing also. For example an individual at high risk for heart attacks may undergo testing much earlier if they are also obese.
Features
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For those patients who have no access to insurance or cannot afford health screenings, several charities and organizations offer health screenings for free. Most of these screenings occur in mobile clinics that travel to low-income areas in order to better serve people who may not have access to transportation. While individuals may have to wait in line to get a screening, it does offer a valuable service to those individuals who need the help. Other charities sponsor patients who are very high-risk to get screened at their medical facility.
Considerations
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Health screenings are sometimes expensive. Most patients only undergo certain health screenings if they are high-risk for a particular disease. This makes the screening cost-effective. Cheap health screenings, such as blood work or blood pressure testing, are available for every patient.
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