Tests after age 50

General symptoms · Prevention, screening, pregnancy · updated 2026-10-29

BioMG follows French guidelines. Adapt it to the guidelines and the tests available where you practise.

Frequency: In 2024, 5 125 people were diagnosed with HIV in France, of whom 22% (about 1 100) were aged 50 or over; at the end of 2024, about 9 700 people were living with HIV without knowing it ^[1].

Tests after age 50

In this situation, no routine laboratory test is recommended

Laboratory tests

HIV serology (if never done)if neededTo be offered once in a lifetime, between 15 and 70 years, to anyone who has never been tested, on the occasion of a healthcare contact and regardless of any exposure; the aim is to diagnose people who do not know they are HIV-positive (hidden epidemic) ^[2].

Detailed explanation and international comparison (in French): read it in English (machine translation)

Do not order

“Routine” multi-test blood panel in an asymptomatic adult: no demonstrated effect on morbidity and mortality ^[3,4].
TSH merely because of age in a healthy older person with no thyroid history ^[10].
ESR: no demonstrated medical value at the end of a routine consultation of an asymptomatic patient in general practice (HAS, November 2025) ^[21].
“Routine” 25-hydroxyvitamin D: reimbursed only if rickets or osteomalacia is suspected, in older people prone to repeated falls, around bariatric surgery, after kidney transplantation or if a drug's SmPC requires it; outside these situations, the fee schedule considers the test useless, including to start or monitor supplementation ^[22].

Sources (22)