Annual visit to your Primary Care Physician
- Smita Saraf, MD, FAAFP
- Apr 1
- 4 min read
Even though a routine trip to the physician might not be the most enjoyable way for a person to spend time, most individuals know that annual checkups/physicals are essential for overall health. This visit helps to identify or prevent medical problems, manage chronic conditions, and ensure you are maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
As a Family Physician I see patients of all ages. To keep this article brief, I will be including standard recommendations for ages 18-65 yrs.
Preparation for the visit:
Know your personal medical, surgical history & family history.
Keep a list of medications you are taking – including over the counter supplements.
Family history is very important to understand your risk for developing a chronic condition. Early intervention can prevent development of a problem.
Fasting is not necessary for the visit unless recommended by your physician.
What to expect during your appointment?
You have a total of 30 mins for this visit. The Medical Assistant will verify your history, medications, and get your vitals (height, weight, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and temperature). You will be screened for depression & anxiety through a questionnaire.
The physician will go over all the compiled information, ask you questions about your health and do a brief examination from head to toe - includes skin, head, ears, nose, mouth, neck, chest - heart/lungs (also includes breast exam for women), abdomen, back, groin (includes testicular exams for males <35 years old & prostate exam for men > 50
years old), and lower extremities. Abnormal findings & management will be discussed with you.
What blood tests are advised during your visit?
This really depends on your age, chronic medical problems & family history.
Guidelines recommend screening for high cholesterol, prediabetes, diabetes and HIV. Vitamin D may be recommended for certain individuals at higher risk for deficiency.
I recommend you ask your physician to screen you for iron deficiency, B12 and folic acid deficiency – these are common among Indians, regardless of your dietary preference. Acid reflux is also common among Indians, so consider asking your physician about H. Pylori screening.
What other age-based recommendations are given for health maintenance?
For women,
Cervical cancer screening:
PAP test every 3 years for ages 21-29,
PAP with Human papilloma virus test every 5 years is recommended for ages 30-64. Nearly all cervical cancers are linked to persistent infections with high risk strains of HPV, particularly types 16 and 18 and hence routine screening is advised.
Breast cancer screening:
Women aged 40-79 should have a mammogram every 1-2 years.
For men,
Prostate cancer screening:
USPSTF (U.S. Preventive Services Task Force) recommends that men ages 55-69 years discuss the possible benefits & harms of PSA
blood test (Prostate-specificAntigen) screening with their primary care physician and make an individualized decision about whether to get screened.
For all adults,
Colon cancer screening:
All adults should start screening at age 45. There are stool based tests and direct visualization tests used for screening. The two stool based tests are the FIT (fecal immunochemical)test or the DNA test (Cologuard). FIT is annual and Cologuard is done every three years.
Direct visualization tests such as colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy and CT colonography are also used to screen for colon cancer. Colonoscopy undoubtedly remainsthe gold standard for screening among all these tests. Frequency of screening colonoscopy depends on the findings in your colon.
Lung cancer screening:
Annual low dose CT scan for current or former smokers aged 50-80 with a 20-year history of smoking at least 1 pack/day.
What immunizations are advised?
Flu vaccine annually - there will be a flu vaccine for the 2025-2026 season.
Update COVID vaccine, last one came in Sept 2024
Tdap/Td – All adults should get one tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis) followed by Td (tetanus and diphtheria) immunization every 10 years.
Shingles vaccines: for ages 50 and up - 2 doses, 2 to 6 months apart for prevention of shingles.
People with certain chronic conditions will benefit from getting Pneumonia, Hepatitis B, MMR, HPV (up to 45 years of age) vaccines. Ask your PCP aboutthis.
Always check CDC.gov for health and vaccine recommendations before international travel.
Diet, exercise, and lifestyle are all also vital for your health and wellbeing. If needed, you may be referred to behavioral counseling interventions to promote healthy diet & physical activity. Embedding lifestyle improvements, such as plant-based diet, regular exercise, effective stress management, restorative sleep, avoidance of harmful substances, strong social connections (like Triveni), and your annual exam from your physician will significantly enhance your health & reduce your risk of chronic illnesses & complications.
Lastly, these are all standard recommendations. It is important to consult with your doctor for personalized advice. There are additional recommendations for pediatric & geriatric annual visits which I was not able to include in this article. But if there is interest in the community, I will be happy to write about it in a future article. Additionally, if there are general questions on specific health issues, please forward them to the editor of ‘Samvad’ and I’ll be happy to address those in future articles.
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