There is a temptation, in patients and doctors alike, to multiply tests “just to be reassured”. It mainly produces false positives, anxiety and cascading investigations. Screening has value only for a disease that is common, detectable early, and where early treatment genuinely changes the outcome.
The core, for everyone
- Blood pressure, weight, waist circumference — three minutes, and the best benefit-to-cost ratio in all of medicine.
- Fasting glucose and a full lipid panel, every three years in the absence of risk factors.
- An annual dental check: periodontitis is a documented cardiovascular risk factor.
- A fundus examination and intraocular pressure measurement from age forty.
What depends on who you are
In women, screening mammography starts at forty-five — earlier with a first-degree family history — and cervical smears continue every three years. In men, PSA testing is discussed individually from fifty, since its benefits are not universal. Colorectal cancer screening, however, concerns everyone from fifty and remains vastly under-used in Morocco.
The author
Dr Yasmine Benchekroun
Head of Department — General Medicine
A co-founder of Al Manar, Yasmine Benchekroun spent thirteen years in hospital internal medicine before making the case for one simple idea: a consultation that lasts. She designed the thirty-minute protocol that now structures the whole clinic, and oversees chronic disease follow-up.
Learn moreThis article is for information only and does not replace a medical consultation. If you have symptoms, please see a healthcare professional.
