The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has developed a checklist for men over 50 to help them talk to their health care provider about staying healthy.

The items on the first part of the list seem like “no brainers”.

They are behaviors like

• 1) Don’t use tobacco
• 2) Be physically active
• 3) Eat a healthy diet
• 4) Get to and stay at a healthy weight
• 5) drink alcohol in moderation

The list covers items like talking to your doctor about taking aspirin and having immunizations like a flu shot yearly and updating your tetanus, diptheria an pertusis and maybe shingles vaccinations. You can learn more about needed immunizations here.

There are nine recommended screening tests for

1. obesity,
2. STDs,
3. HIV,
4. Cholesterol,
5. Diabetes,
6. High blood pressure,
7. Depression,
8. Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, and
9. Colon Cancer.

You can download a pdf with the tests here and take it with you to discuss with your doctor. The link for it is in the middle of the page.

Items not on the list are

• serum testosterone and
• prolactin levels,
• thyroid hormone and
• erectile dysfunction screening and
• benign prostatic hypertrophy evaluation.

Most of these can be done by questionnaires and then the answers are reviewed with your doctor or by simple in office tests like taking your blood pressure. A few require outpatient testing requiring blood, stool or urine samples or non-invasive ultrasound tests.Sign up to receive this and other articles by email on the upper right corner of my blog Get the Skinney.

If you subscribe by email, you will receive special reports, a series of reports on harmful chemicals and sex and regular reviews of medical topics, information and wellness related materials that are not available just by reading my blog. Sign up now, your information is safe and you will benefit a lot.

Popularity: 3% [?]