Experts seek early cholesterol tests for all kids

VIRGINIA: A new study argues that all children should get tested for cholesterol levels.

Some health experts worry that such testing could lead to inappropriate drug treatment for kids. While cholesterol-lowering medications have been proved safe and effective for adults, there are no significant studies with children. The concern is that since children would be taking these medications for the rest of their lives, long-term studies of both safety and effectiveness are needed.

In West Virginia, pediatric cardiologist Dr. William Neal wanted to see what would happen if all children over the age of 10 were tested for cholesterol.

He analyzed results of more than 20,000 fifth-graders who were tested, and his findings were somewhat surprising. Neal says if testing for cholesterol had stuck to current recommendations and only children with family histories were measured, they would have missed a lot of kids with problems.

Of the 548 children they would have missed who had abnormally high cholesterol, Neal says, 98 had cholesterol levels so high that treatment with medication would be worthwhile.

While studies have shown these cholesterol-lowering drugs are effective for adults and are mostly safe with relatively rare side effects there have been no studies showing the drugs' safety and effectiveness with children over the long term.