The Periodic Health Examination: 1985 update (1986)

Home Guidelines (1979-2006) The Periodic Health Examination: 1985 update (1986)

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RECOMMENDATIONS

  • Smoking: There is good justification for recommending the inclusion of counselling for smoking cessation in the periodic health examination of a person who smokes.
  • Primary open-angle glaucoma: A review of recent literature has produced no evidence to justify modification of the recommendation in the original report of the task force1: “There is poor justification on scientific grounds for the inclusion of primary open-angle glaucoma in a periodic health examination and recommendations must be made on other grounds.”
  • Primary open-angle glaucoma: Although it is widely believed that the treatment for glaucoma is efficacious, evidence concerning the efficacy of early treatment has been graded III.
  • Primary open-angle glaucoma: A single good detection maneuver has not been identified. Clinical examination of the optic disc by an experienced observer is presently the most sensitive maneuver. Development of automated visual-field testing may offer a reliable screening technique, but the necessary instrument is currently not widely available for use in primary care.

 

REFERENCES

1. Periodic Health Examination Monograph. Report of a Task Force to the Conference of Deputy Ministers of Health (cat no H39-3/1980E), Minister of Supply and Services, Ottawa,1980: 51