Evidence-Based Periodic Health Examinations for Adults: A Practical Guide

Periodic health examinations, or annual clinical checkups, are a primary reason for seeking medical care. The objective is to identify hidden problems or diseases in their early stages and to promote behaviors that prevent or minimize the consequences of these conditions. However, the practice of conducting annual reviews with clinical, laboratory, and imaging examinations indiscriminately is not associated with outcomes that matter to the patient (such as reducing morbidity and mortality) and may result in harm, including overdiagnosis and overtreatment. The objective of the present work is to review and summarize the measures currently recommended and supported by scientific evidence from the main regulatory authorities of the United States (United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)) and Canada (Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (CTFPHC)), in order to create a practical guide for evidence-based checkups.