Your Annual Checkup Is Where Preventive Health Starts
Where Do I Start If I Want To Be Healthier?
If you have ever wanted to take your health more seriously but did not know where to begin, you are not alone. For most people the hardest part is not making a dramatic lifestyle change or overhauling their diet. It is simply knowing what to do first. The answer is simpler than most people expect. Schedule your annual checkup. Not because something feels wrong. Not because you have a specific concern. Just because it is the single most accessible and most researched starting point available to anyone who wants to be more proactive about their health.
Does An Annual Checkup Actually Save Lives?
According to a 2022 meta-analysis published in Preventive Medicine by Pathak, Kang, Lu, Mansuri, Kasen, Deng, and Chen examined seven observational studies conducted over the past 20 years, covering 633,957 participants and 35,055 deaths across follow-up periods ranging from 2 to 25 years. Per Pathak et al., people who received an annual physical examination had a 45 percent lower hazard of all-cause mortality compared to those who did not, with a pooled hazard ratio of 0.55. That finding, drawn from nearly 634,000 people studied over two decades, represents one of the most substantial pieces of observational evidence in support of the annual checkup published in recent years.
Do Other Countries Require Annual Checkups?
Yes. Per Pathak et al. (Preventive Medicine, 2022), several countries have long treated the annual checkup not as optional but as a national baseline. The United Kingdom has supported preventive health services for adults since 1948. Germany has funded preventive health check-ups for adults 35 and older since 1989. In Japan, regular health examinations are mandatory for working adults 40 and older. According to Shimosawa et al., published in the Journal of Laboratory and Precision Medicine (2024), Japan's health checkup system which began in the 1970s contributed to a dramatic decline in stroke mortality over the following decades. A separate study published in PMC (2022) found that proactive health checkup participation was associated with significant projected reductions in both coronary heart disease and stroke incidences, with estimated treatment cost reductions of billions of yen over a 10 year period. These are not experimental programs. They are long standing national policies with decades of measurable evidence behind them.
Do I Need A Referral Or A Specific Reason To Get A Checkup?
No. You do not need a referral. You do not need to feel sick. You do not need to already have all the answers about your health. An annual checkup does not require any of that. It just requires showing up. If you have been putting it off because life is busy or because nothing feels urgently wrong, consider this your reminder that the best time to go is before something feels urgent. Per Pathak et al., the habit of showing up consistently may matter more than most people realize. Start there.
he Foundation's Role in Closing the Gap
The Joe and Emmy Liu Foundation exists to make that awareness free and accessible to every family that needs it. Our mission is rooted in the belief that proactive monitoring and early warning education can help shift healthcare from reactive to proactive, potentially reducing unnecessary Medicare costs and supporting better outcomes for older adults and the families who love them. No medical advice. No products. Just free education for families who want to stay closer to their loved ones, no matter the distance.
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Sources
Pathak R, Kang D, Lu Y, Mansuri F, Kasen S, Deng Y, Chen H. Should we abandon annual physical examination? A meta-analysis of annual physical examination and all-cause mortality in adults based on observational studies. Preventive Medicine. 2022;161:107130. Full study linked here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0091743522001797
Shimosawa T. The issues in annual health checkups in Japan to prevent non-communicable diseases. Journal of Laboratory and Precision Medicine. 2024. https://jlpm.amegroups.org/article/view/8657/html
Reduction in medical costs for cardiovascular diseases through innovative health awareness projects in a rural area in Japan. PMC. 2022. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9668126/
