The key points
- No national program calls healthy adults to a general health check
- Screening is disease specific: mammography 40-74, HPV 23-70, stool test 60-74, aorta ultrasound for men at 65
- PSA testing arrives as a voluntary offer from 50 in regions that have introduced it
- Some regions invite you to a hälsosamtal (health dialogue) at ages like 40, 50 and 60
- Private blood testing covers the ground between the programs, on your own initiative
How preventive care works here
Public care does not call healthy adults in for a general health check. What exists is a set of national screening programs aimed at specific diseases, and each region decides when a program starts. Outside the programs, you seek care when you have symptoms or a question, and no referral is needed to visit a vårdcentral (public primary care centre).
If you are used to a yearly physical from another country, this is the largest difference. No one will contact you until you reach the age for one of the programs, or, in some regions, for a hälsosamtal (health dialogue).
The programs that will contact you
Women aged 40 to 74 are offered mammography at intervals of 1.5 to 2 years. The screening costs nothing, and the invitation arrives as a letter or in a digital mailbox. Women aged 23 to 70 are offered a cell sample or an HPV self-test: every five years up to 50, then every seven. Leaving the sample costs nothing.
From the year you turn 60 you are also offered a stool test every other year, which shows whether there is blood not visible to the eye; the offer covers ages 60 to 74 and is sent to the address where you are registered (folkbokförd). Men are called the year they turn 65 to an ultrasound of the aorta in the abdomen, an examination that raises the chance of finding a pulsåderbråck (aneurysm).
PSA testing arrives as an offer
For prostate cancer there is organized testing, OPT. Men aged 50 to 74 in regions that have introduced the program receive a letter with information and an offer to be tested. If you choose to take part, it starts with a blood test measuring PSA, and within the offer it costs nothing.
Testing is always voluntary, and regions are introducing the program step by step. The letter lays out advantages and disadvantages, and you decide whether to take part.
Hälsosamtal in some regions
Some regions invite you to a structured hälsosamtal (health dialogue) at certain round birthdays. In Norrbotten it applies the year you turn 40, 50 or 60: blood pressure and body measurements are taken, you leave samples for blood sugar and cholesterol, fill in a questionnaire and get individual advice.
What is offered, and what it costs, differs between regions. Where it exists, the invitation comes from your local health centre.
Where private testing fits
Between the programs, the initiative sits with you. If public care is to test you, it goes through a doctor's assessment, and every region requires a remiss (referral) for laboratory diagnostics. If you want to see your values yourself, without a medical question attached, you can order the tests privately.
At Enkel you order online, walk in to a sampling site when it suits you and read the result in your account. It might be blood fats, long-term blood sugar (HbA1c), iron stores (ferritin) or the thyroid (TSH). A value outside its interval is worth bringing to a vårdcentral, where no referral is needed for the visit.
Common questions
Does Sweden offer an annual physical?
No national program calls healthy adults to a general check-up. The invitations that arrive are for specific screening programs, and in some regions a hälsosamtal (health dialogue) at certain ages.
How do the screening invitations find me?
Through your registered address. Letters arrive by post or in a digital mailbox; the stool test offer, for example, is sent to the address where you are registered (folkbokförd).
Can I ask a vårdcentral for a full blood panel?
You can always seek care and describe what worries you. Tests in public care are ordered by a doctor when they are judged necessary, and a referral is required for laboratory diagnostics in every region.
Which invitations reach men?
An offer of PSA testing from 50 in regions that have introduced organized testing, the stool test from the year you turn 60, and an ultrasound of the aorta the year you turn 65.
Sources
- Socialstyrelsen: Nationella screeningprogram
- 1177: Regelbunden mammografi för att upptäcka bröstcancer
- 1177: Lämna prov för att upptäcka HPV och cellförändringar
- 1177: Lämna prov för att upptäcka cancer i tjocktarmen eller ändtarmen
- 1177 Stockholm: Undersökning av stora kroppspulsådern i buken
- 1177: Organiserad testning för prostatacancer, OPT
- 1177 Norrbotten: Hälsosamtal för dig som är 40, 50 eller 60 år
- 1177 Västra Götaland: Hälsoundersökningar
- 1177: Remiss och egen vårdbegäran
More articles in the same area
- Men’s health after 40: choosing blood tests for your risk and symptomsHow lipids, glucose, kidney tests, hormones and PSA are selected after 40. Testing and follow-up depend on risk, symptoms and previous findings.
- What blood tests cost in Sweden, comparedWhat private blood tests cost in Sweden, category by category, from an open dataset of 71 products across 7 other providers. Prices checked 30-31 August 2026.
- What is included in a blood test health check?What Vitals, Vitals Pro and Vitals Max include, their limits, preparation and how follow-up is selected. Reproductive hormones are a separate question.
- Blood tests without a referral: how it works in SwedenIn Sweden you can order blood tests yourself, no referral needed. How it works step by step, what you can test and what it does not replace.
This article is general health information, not medical advice and not an assessment of your values. If you have symptoms or concerns, contact your healthcare provider.