The Establishment of National Standards for Health Checks In China and a Comparison with American EHE Standards

Abstract

Background: Different institutes utilize different test standards for routine health checks in China. It is necessary and urgent to establish unified standards for health checks to conserve medical resources and reduce the social burden in China. The purpose of this study is to determine standards of health items and evaluate the advantage and disadvantage by comparing with the American executive health exam (EHE) standards. Methods: We collected health check items used in 60 top hospitals within mainland China. We excluded items that occurred in less than 80%. We compared the selected items with those used in the American EHE standards. Results: China’s health check included physical examination, non-infectious disease screening, malignancy screening, laboratory screening, and imaging examinations. China’s health checks included more items than those used in the American EHE standards. Conclusion: Our findings showed that China’s health check protocols could be simplified, except for the items currently used in the basic physical examination and malignancy screening.