Preventive care - medical check-up for adults

Every person in Austria aged 18 and over is entitled to a free medical check-up once a year.

Identifying potential health risk factors

Regular health check-ups are an important part of your health routine, just like regular visits to the dentist.

Yearly health checks measure your risk of developing certain health problems caused by risk factors like high cholesterol or high blood sugar before they do real damage. If you have unhealthy lifestyle habits such as smoking, alcohol, lack of exercise and poor diet, a medical check-up can help you make healthy improvements to your lifestyle.

It is important to find health problems early. The earlier a disease is diagnosed, the more likely it is that it can be cured or managed successfully. This is also true for some types of cancer and a number of other diseases.

Where can I get my medical check-up?

You can have your health check during a visit to your general practitioner, at day clinics operated by health insurance institutions and at the healthcare centres run by Municipal Department 15 - Public Health Services of the City of Vienna (MA 15).

Municipal Department 15 runs three healthcare centres carrying out health checks for adults. Please note that you have to make an appointment for your medical check-up. Municipal Department 15 also offers health checks at mobile units at small, medium-sized and large enterprises.

Healthcare centres carrying out health checks (German)

What do check-ups include?

Medical check-ups consist of:

• blood test
• urine test
• faecal occult blood test
• body fat analysis
• pulmonary function test
• electrocardiogram (ECG)
• physical examination
• blood pressure
• ear, nose and throat examination including hearing test
• gynaecological examination and pap smear test for women
• cardiac stress test

All tests and examinations are simple and not painful. The medical check-up takes place on two different dates. The first date is for your blood and urine test and you also make an appointment for your other examinations then. Your results and further recommendations are discussed on the second date. All results and diagnoses are yours to take home.