Full blood check-up: the tests that really matter
A full check-up looks at your heart, blood sugar, liver, kidneys, blood, iron, vitamins and thyroid in one draw. Here is which tests matter, what you can leave out, how often to do it and what it costs.
- Tests in the first draw: 31, blood and urine
- Draws a year: Two: the full one, then a re-check
- GP prescription: Not needed
- Price: €295 a year
What a full check-up is
It is a set of blood and urine tests for people who feel well. It shows where you stand and spots a changing value early, before it causes symptoms.
There is no official list. Every lab puts together its own packages, from about fifteen to more than thirty tests, and the same name can mean very different things.
To tell whether a check-up is really complete, look at which areas it covers, not at how many tests it counts.
What it should cover
A full check-up looks at least at these areas:
- Heart and arteries: Cholesterol, triglycerides and ApoB. Then lipoprotein(a), which depends on your genes: once is usually enough.
- Blood sugar: Glucose, HbA1c, the average of the last two to three months, and insulin.
- Liver: Liver enzymes, GGT, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin and albumin.
- Kidneys: Creatinine with eGFR, a urinalysis and urine albumin.
- Blood: The full blood count: red cells, white cells and platelets.
- Iron and vitamins: Ferritin, iron, vitamin B12 and vitamin D.
- Thyroid: TSH, the first test of whether your thyroid works well.
- Inflammation and salts: High-sensitivity CRP, then sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and uric acid.
The tests in the Rosa check-up
Here is everything the Rosa panel measures, area by area. Next to each test you see how often we repeat it. Tap a test to learn what it measures.
Heart and circulation
- Total cholesterol: twice a year
- LDL cholesterol: twice a year
- HDL cholesterol: twice a year
- Triglycerides: twice a year
- ApoB (apolipoprotein B): once a year
- Lipoprotein(a): once only
- High-sensitivity CRP: twice a year
Metabolism
- Fasting glucose: twice a year
- HbA1c: once a year
- Fasting insulin: once a year
- Uric acid: once a year
Thyroid
- TSH: once a year
Liver
- ALT: once a year
- AST: once a year
- GGT (gamma GT): once a year
- Alkaline phosphatase (ALP): twice a year
- Bilirubin (total, direct, indirect): once a year
- Albumin: twice a year
Kidneys and minerals
- Magnesium: once a year
- Creatinine: twice a year
- eGFR: twice a year
- Sodium: once a year
- Potassium: once a year
- Calcium: once a year
Iron and vitamins
- Vitamin D (25 OH): once a year
- Vitamin B12: once a year
- Serum iron: once a year
- Ferritin: once a year
- Transferrin saturation: once a year
- TIBC (total iron-binding capacity): once a year
Red blood cells and platelets
- Red blood cells: twice a year
- Haemoglobin: twice a year
- Haematocrit: twice a year
- MCV: twice a year
- MCH: twice a year
- MCHC: twice a year
- RDW: twice a year
- Platelets: twice a year
- MPV: twice a year
White blood cells
- White blood cells: twice a year
- Neutrophils: twice a year
- Lymphocytes: twice a year
- Monocytes: twice a year
- Eosinophils: twice a year
- Basophils: twice a year
Urine
- Urinalysis: once a year
- Urine albumin (uACR): once a year
These are 31 lab tests: some, like the blood count, give several values. The first draw runs them all, blood and urine. Six months later a second draw re-checks the 10 core tests, to see whether your values move. 90+ parameters a year in all.
What is left out, and why
More tests do not make a better check-up. In people who feel well, some tests bring more doubts than answers:
- Tumour markers: In people without symptoms they often raise false alarms, and they do not replace screening. Cancers have screening tests of their own.
- Sex hormones: They change with your cycle, your age and the time of the draw. They help when there are specific symptoms, and a doctor chooses them.
- PSA: For men from about 50 it is a choice to make together with a doctor.
- Intolerance tests: IgG tests against foods cannot tell you whether you have an intolerance.
How it works with Rosa
- Book in the app: Pick a draw point, a day and a time. There are 244 partner points in 8 regions.
- No prescription needed: Rosa prepares the test request. You print the lab’s form and sign it by hand.
- Have your blood drawn fasting: Nothing to eat for 8 to 12 hours, water is fine. Bring an ID. You hand in your urine sample there too.
- A doctor approves your report: Every value explained in plain words, with a plan for food, supplements and lifestyle. No report reaches you without a doctor’s approval.
- The six-month re-check: A second draw re-checks the 10 core tests.
Two draws a year, every value explained. The full picture, then a re-check of your key values six months later.
What a full check-up costs
There are three ways to get tested, and they cost different amounts:
| Route | What it costs | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| With a GP prescription | A co-payment, the ticket, of up to €36.15 per prescription, with at most 8 tests; the rules vary a little by region. Free or reduced with an exemption, for the tests it covers. | The tests your doctor prescribes. The report, to go through with your doctor. |
| A package at a private lab | Usually €70 to €170, for 15 to 32 tests. | One draw and a PDF report. To understand it, you take it to your doctor. |
| Rosa | €295 a year, one membership. | Two draws, 31 tests in the first. Every value explained, a doctor who approves your report, a plan. |
How often to do it
For people who feel well there is no single rule. Many people do a full check-up once a year.
Repeating it after a few months makes sense for values that change quickly, like cholesterol, glucose and inflammation, or if a value was out of range.
With Rosa the full check-up is once a year, and the 10 core tests are re-checked six months later.
More guides
- Check-up for women: Iron, thyroid, menopause: what matters most and which hormones you really need.
- Check-up for men: Heart, liver, blood sugar and the choice about PSA.
- Thyroid tests: TSH, FT4, FT3 and antibodies: what each measures and when you need it.
- How to prepare for the draw: Fasting, water, coffee, medicines: what to do the night before and in the morning.
- What blood tests cost: The ticket, single tests, packages: what you pay and what you get.
- Prescriptions for blood tests: How long they last, how the electronic one works and when you do not need one.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a prescription for a full check-up? Through the national health service, yes: your GP writes it. Private labs usually do not ask for one. With Rosa you do not need one: Rosa prepares the test request.
Do I need to fast? Yes. Nothing to eat for 8 to 12 hours, because glucose, insulin and triglycerides change after a meal. Water is fine, coffee and tea are not.
Are a full check-up and routine blood tests the same thing? Not quite. Routine tests are usually few: a blood count, glucose, cholesterol, creatinine and liver enzymes. A full check-up adds iron, vitamins, thyroid, inflammation and urine.
Does a blood check-up find cancer? No. It is not cancer screening. Cancers have their own screening tests, like mammography, the pap or HPV test and the faecal occult blood test: ask your doctor or your local health authority which ones you are due.
I take medicines or supplements: can I do it? Yes. Keep taking your medicines as usual unless your doctor says otherwise. Biotin, found in many hair and nail supplements, can skew some tests: ask your doctor whether to pause it for at least two days before.
When do the results arrive? With Rosa usually within 10 working days. A doctor approves every report before you see it.
Do your full check-up with Rosa
31 tests in the first draw, a re-check of your key values six months later, every value explained and a doctor who approves your report. At a partner lab, no prescription needed. €295 a year.
Sources
- US Preventive Services Task Force, screening for prostate cancer. JAMA, 2018. PMID 29801017
- Stapel and colleagues, testing for IgG4 against foods is not recommended as a diagnostic tool: EAACI position. Allergy, 2008. PMID 18489614
