Update on age-appropriate preventive measures and screening for Canadian primary care providers

Objective To summarize the best available age-appropriate, evidence-based guidelines for prevention and screening in Canadian adults.

Quality of evidence The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care recommendations are the primary source of information, supplemented by relevant US Preventive Services Task Force recommendations when a Canadian task force guideline was unavailable or outdated. Leading national disease-specific or specialty-specific organizations’ guidelines were also reviewed to ensure the most up-to-date evidence was included.

Main message Recommended screening maneuvers by age and sex are presented in a summary table highlighting the quality of evidence supporting these recommendations. An example of a template for use with electronic medical records or paper-based charts is presented.

Conclusion Whether primary care providers use a dedicated preventive health visit or opportunistic preventive counseling and screening in their patient encounters, this summary of evidence-based recommendations can help maximize efficiency and prevent important omissions and unnecessary screening.