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 Stay
healthy at any age with preventive screening
Newswise — The Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality today announced two new evidence-based checklists
designed to help men and women understand which medical checkup
tests they need to stay healthy at any age.
The men’s and women’s versions of Your
Checklist for Health show at a glance what the U.S. Preventive
Services Task Force recommends regarding screening tests, preventive
medicine and other healthy lifestyle behaviors.
“The abundance of health information available
for patients can be confusing,” said AHRQ Director Carolyn M.
Clancy, M.D. “These new checklists provide patients with scientific
evidence in an understandable reference tool.”
Your Checklist for Health,
available in English and Spanish, is a pocket-size
brochure designed to be taken with patients when
they visit their health care providers to make it
easier to talk about which screening tests they
might need. Unlike diagnostic tests, which
clinicians order when they suspect someone has a
disease, screening tests help check for problems
before they have symptoms.
Both checklists provide tips about other things
to do to stay healthy, such as eating a healthy diet and exercising.
A chart to record a patient’s screening test history and help plan
follow-up medical appointments also is included.
The checklist for men includes recommendations
about cholesterol checks, tests for high blood pressure, colorectal
cancer screening and recent Task Force recommendations on screening
for abdominal aortic aneurysm, HIV and obesity.
The checklist for women includes
recommendations about screening for high cholesterol; breast,
cervical and colorectal cancers; and osteoporosis. It also includes
recent Task Force recommendations on obesity screening and screening
for HIV for all pregnant women.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is an independent panel of
experts in prevention and primary care. The Task Force conducts
rigorous, impartial assessments of the scientific evidence for the
effectiveness of a broad range of clinical preventive services,
including screening, counseling, and preventive medications.
Its recommendations are considered the gold
standard for clinical preventive services. AHRQ provides technical
and administrative support, but the recommendations of the panel are
its own.
Men: Stay Healthy at Any Age, Your Checklist for Health and Women:
Stay Healthy at Any Age, Your Checklist for Health are available on
the AHRQ Web site at
http://www.ahrq.gov/ppip/healthymen.htm and
http://www.ahrq.gov/ppip/healthywom.htm or by calling
1-800-358-9295 or sending an e-mail to
ahrqpubs@ahrq.hhs.gov.
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