7 Must-Know Health Screenings That Every Woman Needs
Author : Suborna Fermi | Published On : 31 Jan 2024
Living healthy does not essentially mean having a balanced diet or engaging in daily physical activities. It also means that you should take care of your health by checking your health status regularly to understand whether you are at risk of developing critical health conditions.
The main purpose of getting regular health screenings is to detect diseases at an early stage, which will prevent the disease from getting more severe. There are a number of grave diseases that do not cause a single symptom until they become serious, such as cancer. That is why health screening is important because it has the capability to detect the disease even before the symptoms appear.
However, what screening you might require depends on various factors like age, gender, current physical status, risk factors, medical history, and family health history. Generally, the screening tests change as you age. This article will explain all the essential tests that you need.
7 essential tests that every woman should go for:
- General physical examination: You should undergo a general physical health checkup once a year. In this general examination, your doctor would check your height, weight, and BMI. Apart from this, they might also ask you questions about diet, exercise, vaccination history, smoking, alcohol, or drug use.
- Diabetes: Checking for blood sugar levels is essential, especially in your 30s. Inactive lifestyles, poor diets, and being obese are risk factors for diabetes. If you have risk factors for diabetes, then your doctor would recommend getting a diabetes test once every three years.
- Cholesterol test: Every woman in their 20s should get a basic cholesterol checkup to check the levels of cholesterol and triglycerides to assess the risk of developing coronary heart disease. As the risk of heart disease increases with age, that is why doctors recommend cholesterol tests once every four years, beginning in the 20s.
- Screening for breast cancer: Detecting breast cancer at its early phase is important to increase your chances of curability. Breast cancer screening includes clinical examinations, such as mammograms. If you have a family history of breast cancer, then your doctor would recommend BRCA testing or genetic counseling to check whether the breast cancer is linked to certain genes, including BRCA1 or BRCA2.
- Sexually transmitted disease test: Sexually transmitted diseases are generally symptomless in the initial stages, but one can still spread the infection to their partners. Women who are sexually active should get tested with an STD test to detect chlamydia, HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C.
- Pap smear: Every woman aged 21 or older should undergo a pap smear test once every three years. A pap smear test is important to check for signs of cervical cancer. Doctors generally recommend this test once every three years. However, you might require this test more infrequently if you have normal test results in three consecutive pap smears.
- Colon cancer screening: Women age 50 or over should get a screening for colon cancer. You might need this test more frequently if you are at risk of having colon cancer.
Getting too many tests can drain your pocket a little. That is why we have a great offer for you. You can get the thyrocare couple offer in which the test package contains 116 essential tests, such as diabetes tests, kidney profile tests, vitamin profile tests, thyroid profile tests, liver profile tests, lipid profile tests, hepatitis tests, and others. You can avail the thyrocare blood test offer for you, your partner or a family member.
