Know Your Health Numbers
Blood pressure: 120/80. Cholesterol: below 200. Blood sugar: below 100. Waist size: below 40 inches for men and 35 for women. There is no routine path to health, but many of the numbers we consider to be healthy numbers apply to everyone.
Your primary care doctor can help you determine where your health numbers are today, and help you begin a plan to get them or keep them where they need to be.
Please join us for Ohio State's Healthy Community Day, where Ohio State will offer a wide range of free health screenings and services.
Genetic Testing
A significant part of healthy living is understanding what health risks are presented by your family history. Understanding your genetic history can help you, your family and your health care team take the necessary steps to prevent the onset of disease, or to minimize its effect on your life.
Routine Care and Screenings
As we age, men and women face greater risks of certain types of diseases, particularly cancers and heart disease. Routine screenings like mammograms, prostate exams, stroke assessments and cholesterol tests are important for determining your risk for disease, and for diagnosing conditions in their earliest possible stages, when they are the easiest to treat.
You can talk with an Ohio State primary care doctor or gynecologist and discuss which exams and screenings are best for you.
- Primary Care
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Stroke Assessment
- Starting at age 18, get your blood pressure checked at least every two years if you have normal blood pressure (lower than 120/80)
- Check your blood pressure once a year if your blood pressure is between 120/80 and 139/89
- If your blood pressure is above 140/90, discuss treatment options with your doctor
- High blood pressure increases your chance of getting heart or kidney disease and for having a stroke
- At age 50, discuss with your doctor if you are at risk of osteoporosis
- Women age 65 or older should have a bone mineral density test at least once
- At age 40, discuss with your doctor if you should begin mammograms
- Women should be screened every two years between the ages of 50-74
- Women age 75 should discuss continued mammograms with their doctors
- You should have a Pap test every three years if you are 21 or older and have a cervix
- Women 30 or older who have a cervix can have a Pap test and an HPV test together every 5 years
- If you are over 65, talk to your doctor about your need for continued screenings
- Starting at age 20, get a cholesterol test regularly if you are at increased risk for heart disease (if you have risk factors like diabetes, a family history of heart disease, use tobacco, have high blood pressure, or BMI of 30 or higher)
- Women age 35 or older should have their cholesterol checked regularly
- High blood cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for heart disease
- Starting at age 50, get screened for colorectal cancer through age 75
- Discuss with your doctor which screening method is best for you
- If you have felt feelings of hopelessness for the past two weeks or you have had little interest in doing things you usually enjoy, talk to your doctor about depression
- Depression is a treatable illness
- Get screened for diabetes if your blood pressure is higher than 135/80 or if you take medicine for high blood pressure
- Diabetes, or high blood sugar, can cause problems with your heart, eyes, feet, kidneys, nerves, and other body parts
Your doctor may recommend screening for HIV if you:
- Had unprotected sex with multiple partners
- Have used injected drugs
- Pay for sex or have sex partners who do
- Have past or current sex partners who are infected with HIV
- Are being treated for sexually transmitted diseases
- Had a blood transfusion between 1978 and 1985
Get tested for HIV at least once. Discuss your risk for HIV with your doctor and determine if you need to test more frequently.
- All pregnant women need to be tested for HIV
Chlamydia
- Women age 18-24 should be tested for chlamydia yearly if sexually active or pregnant
- Women age 25 and older should be tested for chlamydia if their sexual activity puts them at increased risk, pregnant or not pregnant
Gonorrhea
- Get tested for gonorrhea if your sexual activity puts you at increased risk, pregnant or not pregnant
Syphilis
- Get tested for syphilis if your sexual activity puts you at increased risk, if you've been exposed to someone with syphilis, or are pregnant
- If you are between the ages of 65 and 75 and have smoked 100 or more cigarettes in your lifetime, ask your doctor to screen you for an abdominal aortic aneurysm
- This is an abnormally large or swollen blood vessel in your stomach that can burst without warning
- Starting at age 18, get your blood pressure checked at least every two years if you have normal blood pressure (lower than 120/80)
- Check your blood pressure once a year if your blood pressure is between 120/80 and 139/89
- If your blood pressure is above 140/90, discuss treatment options with your doctor
- High blood pressure increases your chance of getting heart or kidney disease and for having a stroke
- Beginning at age 45 through age 79, ask your doctor if you should take aspirin every day to help lower your risk of a heart attack
- How much aspirin you should take depends on your age, your health and your lifestyle
- Starting at age 20, get a cholesterol test regularly if you are at increased risk for heart disease (if you have risk factors like diabetes, a family history of heart disease, use tobacco, have high blood pressure or BMI of 30 or higher)
- Men age 35 or older should have their cholesterol checked regularly
- High blood cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for heart disease
- Starting at age 50, get screened for colorectal cancer through age 75
- If you have a family history of colorectal cancer, your doctor may want to begin screenings before age 50
- Discuss with your doctor which screening method is best for you
- If you have felt feelings of hopelessness for the past two weeks or you have had little interest in doing things you usually enjoy, talk to your doctor about depression
- Depression is a treatable illness
- Get screened for diabetes if your blood pressure is higher than 135/80 or if you take medicine for high blood pressure
- Diabetes, or high blood sugar, can cause problems with your heart, eyes, feet, kidneys, nerves and other body parts
- Have sex with men
- Had unprotected sex with multiple partners
- Have used injected drugs
- Pay for sex or have sex partners who do
- Have past or current sex partners who are infected with HIV
- Are being treated for sexually transmitted diseases
- Had a blood transfusion between 1978 and 1985
Get tested for HIV at least once. Discuss your risk for HIV with your doctor and determine if you need to test more frequently.
- Men age 50 who are at average risk of prostate cancer and expect to live at least 10 more years should discuss prostate screening with their doctors
- This discussion should take place starting at age 45 for men at high risk of developing prostate cancer. This includes African Americans and men who have a first-degree relative (father, brother or son) diagnosed with prostate cancer at an early age (younger than age 65)
- This discussion should take place at age 40 for men at even higher risk (those with more than one first-degree relative who had prostate cancer at an early age)
- Screening options include a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and a digital rectal exam
- Talk to your doctor about your sexual history or sexual activity to determine if you should tested for gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, or other sexually transmitted diseases
- Testicular cancer is very rare, but it is the most common cancer found in men between the ages of 15 and 34
- Most often, testicular cancer is first found by men themselves, either by chance or during self-exam
- Sometimes the cancer is found by a doctor during a routine physical exam