'The checkup': why, what, when, how.

'Checkups' are supposed to be good preventive medicine, but it appears that society cannot bear the costs of an expanded annual physical for everyone. Family physicians have an obligation to make rational efforts at prevention; this article reviews present epidemiologic and scientific knowledge about the value of the possible components of periodic examinations for asymptomatic patients. An instrument for recording relevant information and facilitating follow-up compatible with the problem oriented record is described.