Current Status and Issues with Cancer Screenings

Abstract

Japan carries out more medical screenings than anywhere else in the world. This article will explain typical “cancer screenings” based on age groups. Examinations are a shorter version of “medical examinations” and have been explained as “confirmations of a person’s health.” The Committee specified that these were for the purpose of “not necessarily confirming the existence of disease, but rather understanding values over time from the perspective of promoting health, by giving health guidance and aim-ing to change behavior and reduce risks in accordance to risk levels identified for future disease based on these values.” Screenings are a shorter way of saying “inspection and diagnosis”, and have been explained as “performed for the purpose of discovering a specific disease.” According to the Committee, these are “performed for the purpose of confirm ing the existence of disease. Therefore, when the result is “positive,” a detailed inspection is performed and if the presence of the disease is diagnosed it is treated. When the result is negative, follow-ups are performed until the next screening.” A typical example of these screenings is “cancer screenings.” Cancer screenings are extremely important for the prevention and early detection of “cancer,” the leading cause of death in Japanese people.