Position Statement: Cholesterol Screening in Children is Not Indicated, Even With Positive Family History

Abstract

The same reasons for the policy of rejecting universal blood cholesterol screening in all children also lead us to reject selective screening in those with a family history of premature CHD or high blood cholesterol. It is probably true that this large group--roughly 25% of all children, 12 million in the United States and many tens of millions worldwide--is at somewhat higher risk than the other 75% of children of eventually dying of CHD many decades later. But the small size and remoteness of any benefit achieved by cholesterol intervention is illustrated by the projection that we would need to treat 300 girls in the top cholesterol quintile, and treat them effectively for 50-60 years, in order to defer just one premature CHD death before age 65. The benefits of cholesterol screening and treatment in children are not only very small and remote, they are also uncertain; we have no firm evidence that they exist. The benefits are not needed, given the clinical trial evidence that most of the risk associated with high blood cholesterol among adults is reversible, even when intervention is not begun until middle age. The harmful effects of cholesterol screening and treatment are more firmly established than the benefits, and some are very serious. Such a program would be expensive orders of magnitude from conventional criteria for cost effectiveness. It would cause malnutrition in some children, and have the adverse consequences of labelling.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)