Health Screening in Older Women Am Fam Physician. 1999 Apr
1;59(7):1835-1842. Health screening is an important aspect of
health promotion and disease prevention in women over 65 years
of age. Screening efforts should address conditions that cause
significant morbidity and mortality in this age group. In
addition to screening for cardiovascular disease,
cerebrovascular disease and cancer, primary care physicians
should identify risk factors unique to an aging population.
These factors include hearing and vision loss, dysmobility or
functional impairment, osteoporosis, cognitive and affective
disorders, urinary incontinence and domestic violence. Although
screening for many conditions cannot be proved to merit an “A”
recommendation (indicating conclusive proof of benefit), special
attention to these factors can decrease morbidity and improve
quality of life in aging women. Women now constitute 62 percent
of the U.S. population over 65 years of age.1 They account for
more than 106,000 office visits to physicians