ABSTRACT
National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Blood Cholesterol Levels in Children and Adolescents and the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition have recommended that children should be screened selectively, based on a family history of high blood cholesterol or premature cardiovascular disease. The cumulative death rates from coronary heart disease (CHD) before age 65 years in individuals studied in accordance with their serum cholesterol quintile showed that the risk for CHD death was relatively small, even among males in the highest cholesterol quintile. In addition to the frequent laboratory inaccuracies in an office setting and the cost, another potential adverse effect of cholesterol screening is suboptimal nutrition and nutritional deficits which could follow the restrictive diets recommended for those patients found to have high cholesterol levels. Over- or under-feeding should be avoided by monitoring weight and height progression in any child who is being given dietary recommendations.
