Panel: Test every child for cholesterol by age 11

[w8liftinglady]

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20111111/3ecad5d1-4f29-442d-ae30-520cbd6a727b

CHICAGO (AP) — Every child should be tested for high cholesterol by age 11 so steps can be taken to prevent heart disease later on, a panel of doctors urged Friday in new advice that is sure to be controversial.

They also advise diabetes screening every two years starting as early as 9 for children who are overweight and have other risks for Type 2 diabetes, including family history.

The recommendations are in new guidelines from an expert panel appointed by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. They were released online Friday by the journal Pediatrics and will be presented Sunday at an American Heart Association conference in Florida.

Until now, major medical groups such as the pediatrics academy have advised cholesterol tests only for children with a family history of early heart disease or high cholesterol and those who are obese or have diabetes or high blood pressure. But studies show that is missing many children with high cholesterol, and the number of them at risk is growing because of the obesity epidemic.

[MADem]

1. Ka-ching, ka-ching....at how much money per test, would that be? NT

[seabeyond]

2. and in the meantime, keep lowering the acceptable number on cholesterol getting more adults on

the lifetime drugs.

[iris27]

4. And the acceptable glucose numbers too. "Pre-diabetes", "pre-hypertension"...

in the end, we're all "pre-dead".

[MADem]

6. Isn't that the truth?

Pushers in white coats...!

[w8liftinglady]

3. answer-

how many end-stage renal patients,diabetic amputations and strokes would it prevent? I care for way too many YOUNG patients who could have remained functional if they were able to keep tabs on stuff like cholestrol and blood sugar.It's cheaper in the long run.

[MADem]

5. How about working on the diets of those kids--a few more fruits and veggies,

and their cholesterol will be just fine.

I think this is an after-the-fact "solution" to sell drugs, myself. We're talking little kids, here.

[HockeyMom]

8. Are these kids underweight?

I was one of them and probably still considered underweight. I didn't like this or that as a kid. No candy, cookies, soda, fried foods, chips, cheese, meat/gravy, etc. The only way I would eat pizza was to take all the cheese off. I walked around snacking on celery, carrots, and raw potatoes. The other kids called me Bugs Bunny back then. About all I would eat were salads, broiled fish with lemon (hated butter too), and sometimes pasta with just tomato sauce. My own kids growing up were only slightly less fussy. My daughter was called underweight too. Is EVERY human being in this world "at risk" of high cholesterol?

Unless there is a SPECIFIC reason to test a particular kid, all kids should not be tested. MONEY MAKING scam to line the pockets of the health industry and drug companies. Occupy Wall Street? Maybe we need to Occupy the AMA, and Pfizer, et al, besides.

[LiberalFighter]

7. How about putting PE back into the school system?

[davsand]

9. Now THAT is a novel idea! Maybe discouraging video games would help too.

Seems like kids are not quite as active as kids used to be. Too much time spent on the Xbox and texting, maybe. Making PE a core part of every curriculum and maybe removing advertising for video games from all kids' programming would be a good start if they are actually serious about lifetime good health habits. I'd also think that it'd be a huge help to our overburdened medical system if HFC use was regulated in our food supply.

Oh! While we are at it, how about fixing the school lunch programs so they quit serving crap to kids?

I dunno, I'm no researcher, so maybe those ideas are just me talking out my butt, but it sure seems like a better alternative than pushing pills on kids...



Laura

[Initech]

10. More money to be made off the tests than to teach fitness.

I know - it's incredibly fucked up. It's all about profit profit profit... :argh:

[seabeyond]

11. my kids have had PE thru out there years. i dont know about highschool. and elective is cross

country so he certainly gets his physical exercise thru that. but the had PE thru middle school. could even take a more aggressive advanced athletic class in 7th adn 8th