A comprehensive clinical examination is the basis for selecting further diagnostic steps:
- General physical examination – including blood pressure, pulse, body weight, height; further:
- Inspection (viewing).
- Skin, mucous membranes, and sclerae (white part of eye) [sweating, heat exhaustion; visceral adiposity* (abdominal fat ↑), decreased muscle mass (muscle strength ↓); increased waist-to-hip ratio, thin and dry skin]
- Checking muscle strength (grip strength).
- Auscultation (listening) of the heart
- Auscultation of the lungs
- Palpation (palpation) of the abdomen (abdomen) (tenderness?, knocking pain?, coughing pain?, defensive tension?, hernial orifices?, kidney bearing knocking pain?)
- Inspection (viewing).
- Health check respectively anti-aging check.
Square brackets [ ] indicate possible pathological (pathological) physical findings.
* Indications of significant visceral obesity (synonyms: android obesity: male fat distribution pattern with emphasis on the abdomen; also called abdominal or central obesity or “apple type”) result from:
- BMI (body mass index; body mass index (BMI)) > 30.
- Waist-hip-ratio (WHR; waist-to-hip ratio (THV)) > 0.9
