A question for medical professionals, esp peds?!
Question: My ped wants my 2-yo to having a fasting lipid level and UA for cholesterol screening, bc there is a FH of high cholesterol. I am an MD as well, and this seems a bit over the top. What would he do w/ the info? I'm not putting him on statins at age 2, and if it's "just to keep an eye on it", can't we wait till he's older?
Also, how do you get a clean catch UA on a kid in diapers?
Does the AAP recommend this? Thanks in advance.
Answers: My ped wants my 2-yo to having a fasting lipid level and UA for cholesterol screening, bc there is a FH of high cholesterol. I am an MD as well, and this seems a bit over the top. What would he do w/ the info? I'm not putting him on statins at age 2, and if it's "just to keep an eye on it", can't we wait till he's older?
Also, how do you get a clean catch UA on a kid in diapers?
Does the AAP recommend this? Thanks in advance.
I found the following article for your very interesting question.
How Early Should You Get Your Cholesterol Checked?
Monday November 12, 2007
Some recent news has raised the question as to when cholesterol levels need to be checked. High cholesterol is a risk factor for heart disease, and with heart disease being the number one cause of death in the US, lowering cholesterol early is a special concern to prevent heart disease.
The current guidelines set forth by the National Cholesterol Education Program state that cholesterol should be checked at least every five years when you turn twenty years of age. However, a recent study published in the British Medical Journal suggests that healthcare providers should begin to check cholesterol levels in children as young as 15 months of age!
The study seemed to be most concerned about a form of high cholesterol known as familial hypercholesterolemia, which is rare and mostly runs in families. Although children and young adults may have this condition and have high cholesterol, it often isn't checked because cholesterol screening isn't included in a child's physical. The researchers, however, found that screening children between the ages of one and nine years of age was the most effective in discovering this condition.
I wouldn't add a cholesterol screening to your physical and child's immunization schedule just yet. This is just one study, and more need to be performed to look further into this. I suppose the question I have is this: What happens if your 15 month child has high cholesterol? Would they be placed on medication at an early age? Would they need to restrict the amount of fat in their diet? These are questions that would need to be addressed, so definitely stay tuned on this budding subject.
.http://cholesterol.about.com/b/2007/11/1...
Things to consider about cholesterol. High cholesterol aside from being genetics can come mostly from the kinds of foods we eat.
You know very well that all children need the essential fatty acids for their normal growth and development. Try to establish healthy eating habits for the whole family. Try to incorporate fruits and vegetables; beans and whole grains at an early age. Carrots ,nuts esp almonds; and celery sticks can be adapted as finger foods instead of candies and desserts. Exercise and lots of water is impt.
How to catch a clean urine specimen?. You can ask the doctor for one of those sticky plastic container that you can put on the baby inside the diaper. The best time to catch this would be be first thing in the morning before any feeding. . Of course, it's so much easier to collect this from a baby boy obviously.
UA can be done for ketones. Ketones are metabolic end products of fatty acid metabolism. In healthy individuals, ketones are formed in the liver and are completely metabolized so that only negligible amounts appear in the urine
There are cholesterol digital meters ( blood) available now in the market that can measure cholesterol reading; much is like the glucometer for diabetcis but it only records total cholesterol. not the HDL or the LDL.
In my personal opinion, for a 2 year-old, cholesterol testing is unnecessary and inaccurate Even to just establish a reference baseline All children are at their parent's descretion in their diet selection and eating habits. . Most of our cholesterol is derived from foods
Besides, most of their nutrients and calories consumed will be synthesized for energy metabolism.. Little or nothing will be stored as cholesterol or triglycerides.
I think what the doctor wants to accomplish is to make you more aware of the necessity to start early on a healthy diet and exercise regimen and be aware of the risk factors. Make it into a family project.
Hope this helps!
If you are a MD -then you should know these answers or how to find them. And, like the rest of us (if you are a MD) you should be pretty tired of patients not asking you their questions and asking them on websites that anyone can answer -- ask the doctor why he wants to do it.
A UA is not for cholesterol screening BTW