By Dr Odofin James Taiye.
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being of an individual and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.This is the working definition from World Health Organization(WHO),though it is associated with controversy.
Prevention of disease is definitely better than cure. This will be possible from avoiding the predisposition to disease,disability and even death. Therefore, adopting a healthy lifestyle and avoidance of harmful cultural practices might at least serve as primary prevention of certain diseases.The healthy behavioural pattern should be maintained and sustained for a long time to be meaningful and effective.
In the presence of pre-diseased condition, early recognition and prompt quality treatment will nib the supposed disease in the bud and possibly remove its trace from the body. This is achievable by cultivating the culture of routine medical check up.
Medical check up is therefore a strategy used to identify pre-disease process before it becomes fully established. It can identify an unrecognized disease in a person who shows no signs or symptoms.
This should be on a regular basis based on the individualistic risk factors of the person,including the age, occupation, gender and family history among other things. It has different names: annual medical check, routine/periodic health evaluation, general health check etc.
The goal is disease-prevention and or early effective intervention of life. This will also improve the quality of life and possible prolongation of same. The agony associated with disease is reduced. Generally, the morbidity and mortality of the disease are reduced in the population.
The medical check-up is being conducted by a certified medical practitioner who will start by getting a medical history from the client. This is followed by a general physical examination which include assessing the state and functionality or otherwise of the organs of the body.This will be followed by some general and specific-system oriented tests.
The following are basics in medical check -up, and can give inkling to the presence of disease or its likely possibility in nearest future. The Body Mass Index, Blood pressure and Blood sugar screening, Full Blood Count, Urinalysis and Urine microscopy/culture /sensitivity, HIV screening, Faecal Occult Blood test. Others include Pap smear and Prostate Specific Antigens (PSA )to detect possibility of Cervical and Prostate cancer respectively in women and men. Mammography for detecting possibility of Breast mass, Fundoscopy, Chest X-ray etc. Medical check up is not without its shortfalls .These include unnecessary intervention with possibility of further testing.There might be over-diagnosis ,over-treatment or undue anxiety . Error is also possibility which can either be human or mechanic .This may indicate an apparent absence of the disease which in turn give a false sense perfect health.The tests should therefore have high sensitivity and specificity which respectively connote true probability of the disease being checked for or not. Errors could be eliminated by good quality control.
Factors that affect effective medical check- up include ignorance,low socioeconomic status,poverty,culture,inavailibility of health facility,among others. Inculcating the culture of routine medical check will therefore be helpful and cost effective in the long run. We should endeavor to get ourselves checked medically.
