Ask HN: For young people, are health checks worth it from a med sci perspective? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: For young people, are health checks worth it from a med sci perspective?

3 pointsarchibaldJ5 comments

From a medical science perspective, would annual health screening* be a waste of money for people in their mid 20s who are considerably quite healthy? (maybe except for the occational insomnia and stress)

Considering how difficult it is to define what 'healthy' really is, can anything insightful be discovered in such a general none-targetting check-up? (other than some edge cases or a substantial deviation from the norm)

* e.g. a $1000 one that does Haematology Profile, Diabetic Profile, Thyroid Profile, Bone and Joint Profile, Liver Profile, Tumour Marker Studies, Hepatitis Panel, Anaemia / Nutrition Profile, Stress Hormone Profile, Sex Hormone Profile, etc

[Edit: better phrasing]

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I won't try to answer your question directly but I'll tell you what happened to me and let you make up your own mind.

I developed type 2 diabetes probably by my mid-20's but because I generally felt OK I never bothered to go to a doctor so I didn't find out about it until my late 30's. By that time a lot of irreversible damage had been done and today in my early 50's I'm disabled with chronic fatigue and a leg amputation. I'm also deaf in one ear and had a stroke a couple of years ago, which luckily doesn't seem to have made things much worse.

I do think it's likely that if I had found out about the diabetes when I was young and treated it I would be in a much better situation today.

I just looked type 2 diabetes up and realized I know nothing about it. Thanks for sharing. This is very insightful. Take care man!

I don't know about annual checks. Maybe twice a decade for the major things.

I am 34 and just found out I have a Atrial Septal Defect. A birth defect in my heart where a hole in my atria cause already oxygenated blood from my left atrium to flow into the right. It has now caused significant pulmonary hypertension which is causing me all kinds of weird symptoms over the last year. I found out through an echocardiogram ordered by a pulmonologist as I was having shortness of breath.

Normally this is something that is found in early childhood if parents bring their kids to get checked out. My mother did not evidently! When it's found and handled sooner it gets fixed and that's it. No further treatment required. If I had found this sooner I would not have the extra lung damage and heart chamber dilation that I have now.

So yes, I think a healthy person should get their vital organs checked every so often because a defect in early life may not present itself until a lot of damage has been done in later life.

I think it’s a waste.

There are many tests indicated if you have risks or symptoms (thyroid for depression) but you might have no risk for hepatitis, get your iron checked when you give blood. I think fasting blood glucose is low cost and maybe worth it for many people but A1C is a more expensive test warranted only if there is some reason to think your glucose is out.

I don’t know if the stress hormone profile and sex hormone profiles have validity in terms of treatment - the risk and reward profile for hormone treatment of women is highly controversial and I think it would be for men if it were as common.

I see! Thanks for the analysis. Appreciate it.

> ...highly controversial

Yeah I was thinking how things would likely be less straight-forward in that regard

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