Screening tests made simple | |
A woman’s concise guide to common medical tests |
This work is aimed
at the well educated, interested female patient who wishes to be informed in considerable detail about her health screening options. The information presented is sophisticated, current and largely accurate. Its style and content will appeal to the motivated health consumer. It discusses with clarity the role of a wide variety of screening interventions, and explains well why others are not recommended. The differentiation between screening and diagnostic investigations is well stated. Wider implications, such as those regarding insurability after genetic testing, are also addressed.
The authors are a North American family physician specialising in women’s health, and an obstetrics and gynaecology professor from North Queensland. They note the grand multiparous, and subsequently hysterectomised state of one author as relevant qualifications. The content is consistently North American in its focus, to a degree which detracts significantly from its application here. For example, lipid values are only quoted in mg/dL, with no “ready reckoner” for conversion to numbers of any meaning for Australian women. Advice to avoid consumption of giardia-infected water from streams frequented by beavers should be easily followed here! Quoted website references are American. There are minor inaccuracies, such as that “hemochromatosis is … suspected when … someone’s hemoglobin is unusually high” and “gamma GT … is commonly elevated … in hepatitis”. Trans-Pacific inconsistencies aside, this publication is topical, fills a gap in the market, and is certainly of relevance to health professionals with an interest in women’s health, if mainly as an addition to patient reference material. Phillppa M Hodgins
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