{"id":125,"date":"2024-04-12T09:06:03","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T09:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gericare.in\/blog\/?p=125"},"modified":"2024-04-17T05:42:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T05:42:32","slug":"preventive-health-check","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gericare.in\/blog\/preventive-health-check\/","title":{"rendered":"Preventive health check"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Senior citizens are the main users of health care and hence identifying any health issue early results in better outcome. Often the problems that come up after 60 years are attributed to ageing, and ignored.<\/p>

What is a preventive health check?<\/b><\/h2>

Preventive health check is done to identify disorders or diseases at a very early stage when there are no signs or warning about it. Senior citizens are likely to benefit from these checks if supervised by a Geriatrician<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>

Does doing a set of tests including scans enough?<\/b><\/h2>

As each individual is different the risk for ailments vary. Moreover in a senior citizen where differentiation between normal ageing and a disorder is blurred. Hence a comprehensive Geriatric assessment is required before going for tests.<\/p>

Secondly most of the tests have a chance of being falsely positive or falsely negative. Hence it is vital that a clinician with adequate expertise advises on the required set of tests for a particular individual. This would help them to guide the patient as to what the results mean for them as an individual.<\/p>

What is disease prevention?<\/b><\/h2>

In medical school prevention is broadly classified as primary and secondary prevention. Primary prevention is to take measures to prevent long before a particular disease sets in. A common example is taking medications regularly for Hypertension (high blood pressure) to prevent the chance of a stroke. Secondary prevention is the measures required after a disease has happened to minimise the chance of recurrence. In the same example if stroke has happened patients are given small dose of Aspirin to reduce the chance of further strokes.<\/p>

Are there any primary prevention measures that a healthy individual can take?<\/b><\/h2>

Yes, there is no better medicine than a healthy lifestyle in prevention of diseases. Taking regular healthy meals and adequate physical activity are measures that are important in preventing vascular disorders like stroke and heart attack.<\/p>

Other measures include:<\/p>