Finger prick blood test

The blood sugar level test requires fasting!

All participants of UNION measurements and examinations must have created an account on vipunion.sk/moje-zdravie. Just submit your e-mail address and code 11-EEK-358-1

If you encounter any issues with the registration process on the UNION website, please make sure to arrive at least 5 minutes before the scheduled examination time to manage onsite registration.

This examination is provided in cooperation with Union health insurance company.

We offer you many health exams only from a drop of blood. Do you want to know the level of cholesterol, sugar, haemoglobin or uric acid in your blood? Did you know that little crystals of uric acid cause gout (inflammation of joints) which occurs even among young people?

You can choose one of the following examinations from your drop of blood (from your finger):

Uric acid is created during the metabolism of purines after we consume animal proteins (above all meat). Roughly 80% of uric acid is excreted from the body through kidneys, the rest through intestines. In case that the metabolism of purines and excretory system work properly, your body can deal with purines without any problems. When you have some metabolism disorders or poor diet, the level of uric acid in your blood can rise and cause the troublesome disease gout.

In Slovakia, around 8% of people above the age of 25 have raised levels of uric acid in blood but that doesn’t mean they have gout. This disease occurs after the precipitation of uric acid crystals in joints.

Measuring of haemoglobin levels in blood. Haemoglobin is the red blood pigment consisting of proteins and iron. It is the most important part of red blood cells because it allows the transport of inhaled gases, mainly oxygen.

Red blood cells are created in bone marrow and circulate in blood. They consist of 35% haemoglobin. Under certain circumstances the number of red blood cells can rise, for example in mountains, in highly trained athletes or because of special diet high in iron, vitamins B6 and B12, folic acid and zinc.

The inhaled oxygen bonds in lungs with red blood cells and after that travel into the tissues. With low levels of haemoglobin, the ability to transport oxygen drops which leads to fatigue. Smokers have some haemoglobin bonded with carbon monoxide which worsens the transportation of oxygen even more. With extremely low levels of haemoglobin might happen that your tissues won’t be oxygenated enough and thus damaged.

Measurement of cholesterol and blood pressure. Cholesterol is a waxy substance found in the human body after ingesting food. Every regular cell is able to accept cholesterol from its surroundings or create it in case of need. Cholesterol is important to build cell membranes (mainly in children), to absorb steroid hormones and to synthetise bile. The organism regulates the amount of cholesterol by storing the excess and taking some from the reserves when having low levels of it. The cholesterol level rises with metabolism disorders, poor diet, overweight, age, etc. This usually does not hurt but negatively impacts your health because the excessive cholesterol sticks to the walls of your vessels and weakens them. People with high levels of cholesterol in blood are more prone to cardiovascular diseases like coronary artery disease, heart attack or stroke. In Slovakia, more than 50% of people die due to cardiovascular diseases.

That’s why it is important to measure the cholesterol level at least once every three years and in case of raised level try to lower it. High percentage of body fat and overweight are the main causes of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

Measurement of blood sugar. Diabetes is a civilization disease that occurs when your body is unable to produce enough insulin or produces inactive insulin. This hormone is needed to break down glucose and to use it as a source of energy. Therefore it is common to have raised blood sugar levels. Some of the symptoms of diabetes are fatigue, weakness, increased thirstiness and need to urinate, poor sensitivity in hands and irritated skin. There are two types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes requires insulin injected in muscle. The type 2 diabetes is less aggressive and is only treated with medication. Measuring of blood sugar level can detect this disease in time. The blood sugar level test requires fasting.

Measuring of prostate-specific antigen in blood – the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a protein that is secreted only by the epithelial cells of prostate. The main function is liquefying seminal fluid so the highest concentration is found in semen and only small amount is released into blood. When the structure of cells is damaged more PSA is released into blood which can indicate the risk of developing prostate cancer. However, prostate cancer isn’t the only disease caused by raised levels of PSA. The PSA level rises over the course of life but there may be other reasons to raised PSA levels, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia (greater volume of prostate due to age), prostate inflammation or the condition after prostate massage, etc. in case of raised PSA levels it is needed to visit a urologist to perform a specialised examination.