Review slams child lipid screening guidelines

US guidelines recommending cholesterol testing for children may cause more harm than good, according to an expert review.

The guidelines call for universal lipid screening for children aged 9–11 and targeted screening of children and adolescents aged 2–8 and 12–16 with two fasting lipid profiles.

“This requires getting hungry young children to the doctor’s office to be poked with needles on two... occasions,” the authors noted.

The review raised concern over the high cost of screening and the guideline authors’ financial relationships with manufacturers of lipid-lowering drugs.
Pediatrics 2012; online 23 July