Americans Opt For Excess Testing Rather Than Real Disease Prevention
Citing a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine and recent recommendations by major health groups, a new report in the Associated Press suggests that Americans get too many screening tests — giving them a false sense of health security. Whether it’s doctors’ fears about litigation or patients’ expectations that everything should get scanned routinely, we’re getting more tests but not necessarily less disease. What’s the take home message from this report? No — it’s not that you should eliminate all disease screening tests. The take home message is that we need to focus on what really prevents disease — not screening for disease that’s already there. The quote from the report given below has the Fit As Fido message.
“People have come to equate tests with good care and prevention,” Redberg, a cardiologist with the University of California at San Francisco, said in an interview Thursday. “Prevention is all the things your mother told you — eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, don’t smoke — and we’ve made it into getting a new test.”
So don’t replace good, healthy, Fit As Fido behaviors with testing. Get testing when it’s needed — it’s better to catch diseases earlier when they’re often easier to treat. But don’t think you can avoid all those healthy habits Fido’s modeling for you for good eating, sleeping, playing, and socializing just by getting tests to make sure no diseases have developed. Rejoice when your testing is normal — and help keep your good health by staying Fit As Fido!
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