Every year in the US most americans get an annual physical from our doctor if we have insurance. It usually consists of getting some bloodwork done, vitals basic questions etc. Then going over those results and any concerns you may have and nothing else.
I always hear those horror stories of people just all of a sudden being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and theres nothing that can be done. Maybe im missing something.
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There is a problem with false positives. Say the rate for false positives is 0.1%. Not bad, right. Wrong. Say you screen a million people, and a thousand of them get a false positive. They go for another, more invasive test, and get a biopsy. Then there’s the risk of complications from the biopsy, the expense, etc. Our health care system would be busy with too many tests and not enough actual treatment
In most cancer screening procedures, the recommendation for a screening is weighted against the risk of harm from getting the test done, since the risk is not zero
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