Screening for high cholesterol -- when you're only 2
The American Academy of Pediatrics is releasing a new policy statement today that calls for widespread screening of children as young as 2 for high cholesterol and other risk factors for heart disease. The academy says alarming rates of high cholesterol in children, caused in part by our obesity epidemic, make the screening necessary.
If high cholesterol is found, young children might be treated with medication that physicians say could lower their risk for heart disease later in life.
What do you think? Is this a promising development that will save lives, a sad sign of our failure to provide healthful food and exercise for our children, or both?
Comments
I am fortunate that low cholesterol runs in our family, so the question is an academic one for us. There was also a report today that Gardasil, which has been given to millions of young girls, has apparently caused some serious medical problems, including paralysis. I don't have daughters, so again, this one is an academic question, but I am concerned about giving medications to children when we don't know the long-term safety of the drugs.
Posted by: Dahlink | July 7, 2008 7:55 PM
I just had to look up the "report" you're referencing on Gardasil which absolutely does NOT say it causes serious side effects. It says that one girl had a temporal association between receiving a vaccine and getting sick. Please don't contribute to the hysteria about vaccines by this kind of careless referencing.
It also isn't necessarily an academic question for you as both companies that currently make HPV vaccines are working on getting it approved for boys too. Where do you think girls get HPV from?
Posted by: Cara | July 8, 2008 11:38 AM
Cara, the report I was referring to was on the network evening news, and there were several girls who are experiencing serious side-effects which their families are attributing to the Gardasil.
I don't want to contribute to hysteria, but I do think families need to exercise caution, especially with new medications. I'm old enough to remember Thalidomide.
Posted by: Dahlink | July 9, 2008 6:59 AM