I often take mainstream media to task for blindly reporting the benefits of evidence-bereft screening tests. Now it’s time for some kudos for some responsible journalism:
Experts’ concerns revolve around two components of the traditional checkup: the comprehensive physical exam and an extensive battery of tests checking a person’s blood, urine, thyroid and heart. (A third component, an updated patient history, hasn’t prompted the same scrutiny.)“There is very little evidence, if any, that doing [comprehensive] exams yearly on patients without symptoms is good for anything,” said Dr. Ned Calonge, chairman of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which does not endorse yearly physicals.
(via Schwitzer)
Related posts:
- The annual physical
- The data argues against an annual physical, but is it still needed?
- The annual physical
- Is this the type of physical Kaiser provides?
- Are doctors finding the physical exam useless and obsolete?
- How many more scans are doctors ordering today?
- How the physical exam can affect the doctor-patient relationship
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No argument with the essential point. However, the number of US adults who are truly “without symptoms” on questioning by their doctor is vanishingly small. So I think it may be a bit misleading.
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