What is the difference and connection between preventive care and physical examination?

Simply put, physical examination is an important evaluation link in the preventive health care system. The former is a health maintenance system covering the entire life cycle, and the latter is a staged health status assessment method. The two are included and supported, and cannot replace each other at all.

When I was doing public health education at a community health service center, I often encountered residents who confused the two. Last week, I met a 32-year-old Internet operator. He took the just-released annual physical examination report and said that all his indicators were normal, but he suffered from migraines for half a month and could not sleep well. After questioning, I found out He said that he stayed up until 2 o'clock every day for the past three months and relied on takeaways heavy in oil and salt for three meals. He had never done any targeted screening for headaches, nor had he adjusted his diet. He also felt that "having a physical examination every year is a preventive measure." In fact, this is a typical confusion between the two.

In essence, a physical examination is more like taking a "phased snapshot" of the body. Whether it is a basic entry physical examination that costs tens of dollars, or an in-depth early cancer screening that costs several thousand dollars, it is essentially to capture your physical indicators during the few days of the examination to determine whether there are any abnormalities. The core is the action of "finding problems." The scope of preventive health care is much broader. It is not a one-time action, but permeates your daily life: drinking one less cup of iced milk tea, walking for half an hour three days a week, preparing more masks for the elderly and children with respiratory sensitivities during the season, measuring blood pressure at a fixed time every day for patients with high blood pressure and adjusting the dosage, and even the moment you get the flu vaccine, all fall into the category of preventive health care. Its core is "preventing problems" and reducing the possibility of disease from the source.

There are actually different voices in the industry regarding the weight of the two. Some believe that as long as the general population undergoes standardized physical examinations on time every year, more than 80% of the early screening needs for common diseases can be covered. There is no need to perform too many additional and complicated preventive health care actions. Others believe that the missed diagnosis rate of routine physical examinations is not low. Only by putting daily health management first can diseases be truly prevented. In fact, both statements have suitable groups of people. For young people who have a regular daily routine, no family history, and no high-risk habits such as smoking and alcoholism, annual routine physical examinations are basically enough. However, if you have a clear family history of breast cancer and diabetes, or you stay up late for a long time and eat irregularly, an annual physical examination alone is definitely not enough. It must be combined with daily indicator monitoring and lifestyle adjustments, that is, complete preventive health care actions.

In fact, there is no need to distinguish the two so clearly. They are complementary to each other. You have been doing diet control and regular exercise for more than half a year. How effective it is, whether your blood pressure and blood lipids have dropped, you cannot rely on your own feelings. You have to rely on the values ​​of the physical examination to give you accurate feedback. On the other hand, if the physical examination shows that fasting blood sugar is high and has not yet reached the diagnostic criteria for diabetes, if you turn around and throw away the report and continue to eat and drink, you will most likely develop into a confirmed case in less than half a year. However, if you then adjust the meal structure, exercise regularly, and test blood sugar twice a week, most of them can bring the blood sugar back to the normal range. This is because the physical examination points out the direction for subsequent preventive care, otherwise you will not know where to work.

To put it bluntly, if preventive health care is compared to buying a long-term guarantee for your health, then a physical examination is an annual guarantee review to see if the previous investment has taken effect and whether there is any need to adjust the coverage. Only by combining the two can you really take your health into your own hands.