Is disease screening considered a physical examination

There is currently no absolute standard answer to this question in the industry. The two are not simply included and included. They have highly overlapping parts and clear boundaries of distinction.

The routine physical examinations we usually do have many disease screening items embedded in them, such as low-dose chest CT in the annual unit physical examination package, HPV+TCT joint testing for women, and fasting blood glucose and blood lipid testing for middle-aged and elderly people. These are not only standing items for routine physical examinations, but also early screening for chronic diseases such as lung cancer, cervical cancer, and diabetes specified in the national public health system. In this case, it is absolutely fine to say that "disease screening is part of the physical examination." A while ago, I accompanied my elders in the family for a free community physical examination. The package specifically included a prostate-specific antigen test for those over 65 years old. The nurse clearly said that this is an early screening for prostate cancer for elderly men, and that the screening items are integrated into the universal physical examination.

However, there are also many clinical and public health practitioners who do not agree with the statement that "screening is a physical examination". This is not just a rhetorical statement, but the service logic of the two is quite different in actual operations. Routine physical examinations are universal. Regardless of whether you have high-risk factors or not, the content of the basic package is similar, which is equivalent to a "universal annual examination" for your body. However, special disease screenings are highly personalized and are only designed for high-risk groups of specific diseases. For example, people with a family history of lung cancer and people who have smoked for more than 20 years need to do a low-level screening every year. Dosage spiral CT lung cancer screening will not appear in the routine physical examination package for 20-year-old girls with no history of smoking; there are also free gastric cancer screenings in many places for people over 40 years old, which require a history of Helicobacter pylori infection and a family history of gastric cancer to qualify for participation. These targeted screenings are obviously not covered by routine physical examinations.

To put it bluntly, routine physical examinations cast a wide net to give everyone a basic health check, while special screenings target specific serious diseases in high-risk groups to find early signs. The two overlap but have completely different directions. I have been in contact with a 38-year-old male client before, and his regular physical examinations every year showed normal results. Because his father was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 50, I specifically reminded him to do a separate colon cancer screening with a colonoscopy. The result was that he found an adenomatous polyp. If he had it removed, he would be fine. If the problem was found during routine physical examinations, it would most likely be too late. He also asked me at that time, why colonoscopy is not a routine physical examination item? In fact, it is because routine physical examinations must consider universality and cost-effectiveness, and it is impossible to include screening for all serious diseases. Targeted screening is originally a separate supplement.

In fact, for ordinary people, there is no need to worry about the affiliation between the two. Before your next physical examination, spend an extra two minutes with the doctor to explain your family history, bad living habits, and whether there are any long-term discomforts. Let the doctor help you decide whether to add corresponding screening items, which is much more useful than fussing over definitions.