How Early Should Early Screening Be for Women’s Health Concerns?

How proactive are you when it comes to your health?

As we continue to fulfill different roles for our family, we must make sure that our body is at its prime. One of the keys to avoiding illnesses and its repercussions in our family is early screening. You might think that early screening is unnecessary when you don’t experience any symptoms at all, but it could identify risk factors which you might be exposed to, making you more susceptible to these diseases. It could even reveal if you are going through the early stages of the illness, providing a leeway for timely intervention.

Know what tests to take and when to take them to keep yourself healthy!

Breast and cervical cancer among the top illnesses in 2024 that pose a threat to the life of Filipino women, according to the Department of Health (DOH). If you don’t have symptoms, you can take a diagnostic or screening mammogram, or the x-ray imaging method, to help detect breast cancer. Ideally, it should be done annually for 3 years when you reach the age of 50.

If you get a negative result, you can have it every after 3 years. However, if you happen to be at a greater risk to develop the disease due to family history for example, you should undergo mammogram as early as 40 years old. Though this may be the case, it is advisable that breast self-examination start at the age of 25. You should do this on a monthly basis and consult with your OB Gynecologist if you can feel any lump or any other unusual findings.

Among the most common tests done for women is pap smear, or the procedure where cells from the cervix are collected to spot for cervical cancer. Once you reach the age of 21 or become sexually active, this should be done within 3 years. Then, if you hit the age of 30, this should become an annual test. When pap smear yields 3 consecutive normal results, it can be performed every 2 to 3 years.

Aside from this, you may also opt to undergo human papillomavirus (HPV) test every 5 years if your age falls on the bracket of 30-65 years old. It aims to look for the presence of HPV that can cause cell changes on the cervix. Vaccine against HPV could also be availed by girls aged 9-14 years old for added protection. These recommendations were given by the World Health Organization with its aim to eliminate cervical cancer.

In an HIV test, your saliva or blood sample is extracted to check if you’re infected with HIV, a virus that attacks the immune system. It is a kind of disease that is transmitted through blood or bodily fluids. This means that screening should be considered as soon as you become sexually active and should be done once a year.

Since there is no cure for HIV and the available treatments are only intended for managing the symptoms, it all the more emphasizes early detection. Additionally, Sexually-Transmitted Infection (STI) test can be done as being diagnosed with this makes you more vulnerable to HIV. It could even be fatal if you’re pregnant and may result to serious health problems for the baby.

You surely want to still be quick and agile while aging, and one of the ways to achieve it is to have strong bones. Since the bones gradually weaken and become brittle as we age, it is important to also look after your bone health. Failure to do so increases your risk of fractures that could even lead to disability.

The Bone Density Test is to a low-dose x-ray that measures the strength of your bones, which is also a basis for diagnosing osteoporosis. This is advisable to be done when you reach the age of 60 or at the onset of menopause.

Although this test is recommended much later in life, it is important that you take colonoscopy as detection for colorectal cancer, which affects bowel movement. If left untreated, it could even spread outside the concerned organs which include the liver, lungs and lymph nodes of the abdomen.

Colonoscopy is a procedure wherein the colon and the rectum are examined with the use of a flexible tube equipped with camera. It is suggested to be done once you hit the age of 50. However, if there is a family history of the disease, an early screening is advised.

This only represents some of the most common concerns related to women’s health. There are a lot more areas needing equal attention including blood sugar level, cholesterol level, hearing, vision, and even skin. The bottom line is as much as possible, we should make it a priority to undergo annual executive check-up to monitor our overall health. Prevention is always better than cure!

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