But the Doctor said...

Study Questions the Value of Annual Physical Exams

When researchers compared the number of deaths between the group that got regular physical exams and the group that only saw a doctor as needed, there was essentially no difference.
On average, about 7% of people died in each group over the course of the studies. That was true even when researchers looked at deaths from cancer and cardiovascular disease, which are thought to benefit from early detection and treatment.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, people who saw a doctor on a regular basis were more likely to be diagnosed with conditions like high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Some studies found they were more likely to be treated for those conditions, too. Out of four studies in the review that looked at drug use, two found that people who got regular physicals were more likely to be prescribed drugs to treat high blood pressure, for example.
There was a trend among studies for people who got regular physicals to feel healthier than people who did not, but researchers say that finding is unreliable. There were no apparent differences between groups on hospital admissions, worry, referrals to specialists, or disability.
“In the absence of documented health benefits, we would say there’s a risk of overdiagnosis from this,” Krogsboll says.