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American Academy of Family Physicians Issues New Recommendations for Periodic Health Examinations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, December 11, 2003

Contact:
Adam Lee
American Academy of Family Physicians
(800) 274-2237 Ext. 5221
alee@aafp.org

LEAWOOD, Kan. — The American Academy of Family Physicians has revised and released its Summary of Recommendations for Periodic Health Examinations (RPHE). The RPHE includes new recommendations related to screening for depression, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and bacterial vaginosis, and counseling to promote a healthy diet. The new RPHE also includes changes to previous recommendations related to cervical cancer, chlamydia, colorectal cancer, gonorrhea and prostate cancer.

“The Periodic Health Examination recommendations are one of the most-used tools of our membership,” said Michael Fleming, M.D., president of the AAFP. “While these recommendations cannot substitute for the individual judgment brought to each clinical situation by the family physician, they do offer helpful evidence-based guidance regarding prevention, screening and patient care.”

The additions made to the RPHE include a new recommendation to screen adults for depression. However, the AAFP concluded that there is still insufficient evidence to recommend for or against routine screening of children or adolescents for depression.

The new RPHE also includes a recommendation to screen for type 2 diabetes in adults with hypertension or hyperlipidemia. It also indicates that there is now sufficient evidence-based research to recommend routine screening for women aged 60 and older at increased risk for osteoporotic fractures and for women aged 65 and older for osteoporosis.

The new RPHE has several revised guidelines, including those for prostate cancer screening. The previous recommendation recommended counseling for men ages 50-60 regarding the known risks and benefits of screening for prostate cancer. The revised RPHE indicates that there is insufficient evidence to recommend for or against routine screening for prostate cancer using prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing or digital rectal examination (DRE).

The new RPHE was developed by the AAFP’s Commission on Clinical Policies and Research, which based its recommendations on evidence reports and recommendations developed by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The RPHE was last revised in 2002.

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Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents more than 93,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.

Nearly one in four of all office visits are made to family physicians. That is 215 million office visits each year – nearly 48 million more than the next medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide the majority of care for America’s underserved and rural populations.

In the increasingly fragmented world of health care where many medical specialties limit their practice to a particular organ, disease, age or sex, family physicians are dedicated to treating the whole person across the full spectrum of ages. Family medicine’s cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care.

To learn more about the American Academy of Family Physicians and about the specialty of family medicine, please visit www.aafp.org.

For more information about the AAFP's positions on issues and clinical care and downloadable multi-media on family medicine and health care, visit the AAFP Media Center.

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