Scorpios are the most likely to visit Cheng Ching Hospital in Taichung for health checkups, the hospital’s Executive Health Management Center said on Monday.
The findings were based on a study of the medical records of 20,000 people who used the center’s medical services over the past three years, it said.
The center published the study to encourage health checkups, director Chiang Chih-ming (江志明) said, adding that the findings are only for reference.
People born under the zodiac signs Scorpio, Virgo, Sagittarius, Libra and Pisces were the top five most likely to go for health checkups, accounting for 9.6 percent, 9 percent, 9.95 percent, 9.92 percent and 8.86 percent of visits respectively, Chiang said.
Scorpio, Cancer and Pisces — the zodiac signs associated with water — are the most attentive to their health, followed by the earth signs of Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn; the fire signs of Aries, Leo and Sagittarius; and the air signs of Gemini, Libra and Aquarius, he added.
“Health checkups are important and some misconceptions about checkups should not persist in this day and age,” Chiang said.
It is not true that only old people need regular health checkups and that people should let their medication needs dictate the types of checkup they order at the hospital, instead of what the National Health Insurance program will cover, he said.
Fearing checkups because they might uncover health problems is irrational and dangerous, he added.
A survey the center conducted in 2016 found that nearly 30 percent of respondents had never had a health checkup and that the average person spends more time and money on maintaining their car than on health exams, Chiang said.
Those attitudes are not conducive to public health, especially when modern lifestyles are causing young people to develop chronic conditions doctors previously associated with advanced age, he said.
Early detection is critical for clinical outcomes, as one patient discovered after a routine checkup revealed early-stage lung cancer that was excised without complications, the center said.
In another case, a patient who lost 8kg in two months and developed a dry cough had delayed seeking medical attention long enough that by the time the center had performed checks, the cancer had already metastasized, it said.
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