Drs John Coffin and David Acorn
Family Medical Practice
0844 477 3088

Keeping Healthy

Screening Tests

There are many screening tests available today and making sure you have these performed  can increase your chance of keeping healthy.

What are screening tests?

Screening tests are tests which are performed to detect a disease or condition before it has produced any symptoms.

The hope is that early detection may enable action to be taken to prevent the disease causing harm or the knowledge may be helpful in some other way.

Screening for the pre-cancerous stages of cancer of the cervix is one example of a test that is designed to prevent disease causing harm.

Performing tests in pregnancy to detect abnormalities of the developing baby, is an example of a test that can help in some other way. 
For example if a baby was thought to have a serious abnormality a decision may be made to have an abortion, or this knowledge could help the parents to be better prepared if they decided to have the baby.

What screening tests are commonly used?

• testing urine to look for diabetes
• measuring blood pressure in healthy adults
• smear tests to prevent cancer of the cervix
• mammography to detect early breast cancer
• antenatal checks to detect early signs of pregnancy problems
• ultrasound in pregnancy to detect abnormalities of the baby
• child health checks to look for early signs of problems with development or physical problems 

A normal screening test doesn't completely rule out a condition so if you think something is wrong come and see us

What are the limitations of screening tests?

Screening tests do not detect all the cases of a disease or condition. It is important to be aware of  this to prevent misunderstanding.

There are many reasons why this is the case.

• Tests have to be easy to perform and not too unpleasant or dangerous, otherwise people would not have them done, so very thorough tests may not always be suitable for screening.
• Tests must not pick up too many "false positives". A false positive test is one that is "positive" for the disease when in fact the disease isn't really there. For example breast cancer screening with mammograms may require ten women to have further tests performed for every one that actually turns out to have cancer.
• With some screening tests, the more sensitive they are made, the more "false positives" are detected. False positives can cause much anxiety, so a compromise has to be found that picks up as many cases as possible without making lots of people worried for nothing..
• Even if some diseases are detected early by a screening test it doesn't always mean treating it early can make a difference. The PSA test for cancer of the prostate, when used for screening a man  without symptoms, is an example of a test whose long term benefit is as yet unknown.

Why bother with screening tests then?

The tests commonly used do detect early disease in most cases, and do prevent harm or save lives. They are very worthwhile having. If you have questions or concerns about having a test performed do discuss it with one of us.

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On this page

• What are screening tests?
• What screening tests are commonly used?
• What are the limitations of screening tests?
• Why bother with screening tests?

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