Update on age-appropriate preventive measures and screening for Canadian primary care providers.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To summarize the best available age-appropriate, evidence-based guidelines for prevention and screening in Canadian adults. QUALITY OF EVIDENCE: The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care recommendations are the primary source of information, supplemented by relevant US Preventive Services Task Force recommendations when a Canadian task force guideline was unavailable or outdated. Leading national disease-specific or specialty-specific organizations' guidelines were also reviewed to ensure the most up-to-date evidence was included. MAIN MESSAGE: Recommended screening maneuvers by age and sex are presented in a summary table highlighting the quality of evidence supporting these recommendations. An example of a template for use with electronic medical records or paper-based charts is presented. CONCLUSION: Whether primary care providers use a dedicated preventive health visit or opportunistic preventive counseling and screening in their patient encounters, this summary of evidence-based recommendations can help maximize efficiency and prevent important omissions and unnecessary screening.