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October Healthy Living Message: Get Recommended Screening and Tests

Woman getting blood pressure taken by a medical professional.
It is important to keep up with your screening tests and immunizations to prevent certain kinds of illness. Recommendations for preventive services depend on your age, sex, health status, and family history—every person is different.

It’s important to keep up with your screening tests and immunizations to prevent certain kinds of illness. Recommendations for preventive services depend on your age, sex, health status, and family history. Every person is different.

What’s important to know?

All preventive services have possible benefits (pros) and harms (cons). Depending on your values and preferences about these benefits and harms, you may wish to receive additional, fewer, or different services than those that are recommended. Talk with your health care team about their recommendations for screening tests and immunizations that are right for you.

“Screening” means looking for a condition before there are any signs or symptoms of that condition. If you already have a symptom of the condition, you should talk with your provider about it, even if you were recently screened and no problem was found.

Regardless of age, gender, health status and family history, you should be screened for alcohol abuse, depression, high blood pressure, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), sexual trauma, obesity, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and tobacco use.

You should also follow the appropriate cancer screening guidelines. Keeping up with immunizations is also important to stay healthy. You should receive a flu shot every year and a tetanus shot at least every 10 years, but some Veterans may need it sooner (indicated for wound management if greater than 5 years has passed since your last shot and those Veterans that are pregnant should receive Tdap vaccine during every pregnancy from 27-36 weeks of gestation).  See Preventive Care Recommendation Charts for more information on Staying Healthy for men and for women.

If you have not received a COVID-19 vaccine already, you can best protect yourself by doing so now. Or, if you are not up to date on your COVID-19 vaccination, see this link to help you Stay Up to Date with Your COVID-19 Vaccines | CDC. COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective in preventing serious illness from COVID-19. They will also protect you from newer virus variants that may spread more easily and affect you more severely. COVID-19 vaccines may be given at the same time as other vaccines, including influenza vaccines. Vaccination is the best way to protect yourself, your family, and your community.

Want to know more?

If you want to learn more about getting recommended screening tests and immunizations, talk with your health care team. They can help you make changes to live healthier and meet your goals. 

You can find additional information and resources at VA’s Prevention website.

To watch a video on why you should get your recommended screenings and immunizations, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=WiI5cpkiD5dvn9vm&v=fb_NL0GzB4I&feature=youtu.be.