Your Checkup Report Has a 'Classification' Box -- What's the Difference Between Normal A and Normal B, and Five Grades Up to 'Has a Condition'

The 'Classification' Box at the Top of Your Checkup Report -- What Sets Normal A and Normal B Apart

Five Categories, Set by the Health Checkup Implementation Standard

A notice from the Ministry of Health and Welfare called the Health Checkup Implementation Standard lays out, in a table, exactly how results from the general health checkup and the life-transition checkup are to be classified. Under that table, every person screened is placed into one of the five categories, and when results across several items would point to different categories, the more serious classification takes priority as the overall result. In other words, that one line in the classification box is the conclusion after weighing every test result from that day.

Normal A and Normal B (Borderline) -- Both Say "Normal," So Why Two Categories

Normal A means every item came back in excellent shape. Normal B (Borderline) means you don't need further testing or medication right away, but you're in a borderline range that calls for managing your own diet and living environment. Neither one is labeled a disease, but if you land in Normal B, it's worth checking the report to see which item -- diet, exercise, or weight -- pushed you into that borderline range, rather than letting it go until your next checkup.

General Disease Suspected -- The Category That Comes From Blood Work and X-Rays

General Disease Suspected is applied when blood work or a chest X-ray raises suspicion of anemia, abnormal liver function, abnormal kidney function, dyslipidemia, or lung disease. Some of these may need treatment right away; others simply call for a repeat or follow-up test to confirm whether anything is actually wrong. Exactly which number crossed which line is spelled out in the detailed results table underneath the overall classification, so don't stop at that one line -- check the table below it too.

Hypertension or Diabetes Suspected -- Why It's Broken Out on Its Own, and Why It Triggers a Second-Stage Checkup

When blood pressure or fasting glucose crosses the threshold, it gets its own separate classification -- Hypertension or Diabetes Suspected -- apart from General Disease Suspected. Along with this category, anyone suspected of hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, tuberculosis, depression or early-stage psychosis, or hepatitis C is routed into the second-stage health checkup and gets a separate notice about it. If your fasting glucose comes back between 100 and 125 and you're classified with prediabetes, that also falls into this group -- so if a second-stage checkup notice arrives, it's better not to put it off.

Has a Condition -- The Classification for Anyone Already Under Treatment, and the Fastest-Growing of the Five

Has a Condition is the classification given when your health history confirms you've already been diagnosed with, and are receiving treatment such as medication for, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, tuberculosis, depression or early-stage psychosis, hepatitis C, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It doesn't mean something new was just discovered -- it simply means you already have a condition being managed, so there's no need to be alarmed. Still, according to the 2024 health checkup statistical yearbook published by the National Health Insurance Service, the share of general-checkup recipients classified as Has a Condition was 28.9%, up 1.3 percentage points from the year before and continuing to climb from 24.6% five years earlier. If you're classified this way, the point of the checkup isn't the classification itself -- it's staying on your current medication and keeping up with regular visits.

The Overall Classification and the Item-by-Item Results Are Different Tables -- Don't Mix Them Up

The few words in the classification box are only the overall conclusion for that day's testing -- each individual item has its own separate criteria on top of that. For example, the T-score from a bone density scan uses its own three-tier table of Normal, Normal B, and Disease Suspected, and the cholesterol recheck criteria apply different thresholds to total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, and triglycerides individually. Even if your overall classification comes back Normal A, a single individual item can still be sitting right at the borderline -- so don't treat the two tables as the same thing.

The classification box is also an entirely separate system from the National Cancer Screening Program. That program runs its own separate questionnaires and tests by cancer type -- stomach, colorectal, and so on -- and reports its own results; it isn't folded into the general checkup's classification table. Even if you took both screenings on the same day, the results come back as separate reports, which is worth remembering so the two don't get confused.

Putting It in Order

① First check which of the five categories your classification box shows -- Normal A, Normal B (Borderline), General Disease Suspected, Hypertension or Diabetes Suspected, or Has a Condition. ② If it's Normal B, find which item in the detailed table calls for lifestyle management such as diet or exercise. ③ If it's General Disease Suspected or Hypertension/Diabetes Suspected, schedule the second-stage checkup or clinic visit noted on your report. ④ If it's Has a Condition, remember that it isn't a new diagnosis -- it's a reminder to keep up your existing treatment, so don't stop your medication. ⑤ Remember that item-level results (bone density, cholesterol, and so on) sit in their own separate tables apart from the overall classification, and check both.

This article summarizes the classification definitions set out in the Health Checkup Implementation Standard as general information, and it does not substitute for a medical diagnosis or treatment. If your results flag anything unusual, bring the report to a clinician and confirm the correct diagnosis and next steps in person.