How to offer a health screening programme that prioritises the needs of both men and women
Thanks to developments in healthcare, great progress has been made in the past century helping people to live longer lives. For example, life expectancy has increased by almost 30 years, cancer survival rates are up and mortality rates from heart disease and stroke are down. However, these improvements in life expectancy are beginning to slow, with more than 20% of years lived now expected to be spent in poor health.
Regular health screens allow individuals to be aware of their current medical status, and in turn, either maintain or improve their current state, manage their personal risk factors and treat any identified conditions. Cardiac monitoring tests such as stress tests and Vo2 max are a perfect example of the value of health screening in diagnosing often unsuspected underlying cardiac risk, potentially avoiding intervention further down the line.
Prioritising specific testing for men and women
The standard template for health assessments is to offer screening based on age, but it is vital to test people tailored to their specific circumstances to ensure the assessment is comprehensive. This includes: gender, medical history, family history, lifestyle/nutrition and mental wellbeing.
Figures from Cancer Research UK reveal that around 55,000 people (the large majority women) are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, or roughly 150 people a day. One in seven women in the UK develop breast cancer during their lifetime. Screening for breast cancer, including regular physical examinations and mammograms, are key to detecting breast cancer early.
In men, the most common cancer is prostate, and one in eight men will have prostate cancer at some point in their lives, according to Prostate Cancer UK. During the pandemic it became harder for men to see their GPs, and as a result more than 8,600 fewer men in England started treatment for prostate cancer in 2020 than in the previous year.
The early stages of prostate cancer symptoms are variable. Some men might notice changes in urination and get an early diagnosis, while others might not have any signs until the cancer has spread. An early diagnosis makes an enormous difference as treatments like surgery or radiotherapy are very effective. It is important for men to be aware of their personal risk and be screened using both blood markers and physical examinations to detect prostate cancer at an early and more treatable phase.
In addition to routine care with their GP, patients benefit from self-examinations. This is particularly true for testicular cancer. Self-examination enables men to assess themselves between physician visits for testicular lumps that may indicate cancer or cysts that may cause infertility. Testicular cancer is completely curable in its early stages and highlights why regular preventative health screening is so important.
Prevention is better than cure
Educating patients on their personal risk factors and the importance of routine appointments with healthcare providers is crucial in maintaining wellbeing, preventing disease and early detection of disease. The Secretary of State for Public Health and Primary Care stated in a recent paper that the "2020s will be the decade of proactive, predictive and personalised prevention".
Bespoke health assessments will be a key tool in prevention, equipping people with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to invest in their own long-term health.
The authors are Dr Helen Mitakidis, concierge medical director and Dr Ruth Whitby, chair of the GP Institute at the Cleveland Clinic London.
This article is provided by Cleveland Clinic London.
Supplied by REBA Associate Member, Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic, now in its centennial year, is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center.
