What to ask for at your annual checkup lab panel

Annual checkup panels vary by clinic and country, but a few panels come up often enough to be worth knowing about before your appointment. This is general orientation, not a recommendation for your specific situation — always follow your clinician's guidance on what tests you actually need.

Commonly included panels

• Complete Blood Count — a general check of red cells, white cells, and platelets.
• Lipid Panel — cholesterol and triglycerides, commonly used for cardiovascular risk screening.
• Blood Sugar — fasting glucose and/or HbA1c, for diabetes screening.
• Liver Panel and Kidney Panel — general organ function screening.
• Thyroid Panel — typically TSH as a first-line screen.

Vitamin checks

Vitamin D and B12 deficiency are common enough in many populations that clinicians often include them, especially if symptoms like fatigue are present — but they're not always part of a default panel, so it's worth asking if you're interested.

Keeping the results useful

Whatever panel you get, the most useful thing you can do afterward is keep the report somewhere you'll actually look at again next year — so you can compare, not just react to a single number in isolation.