To pin that down, Glueck noted, researchers would have to follow a large group of screened children for decades into adulthood, and compare them to a group who’d been randomly assigned to forgo screening as kids.
“It’s very unlikely a study like that would ever be done,” Glueck said.
There’s also a question of expense, since the cost of screening all children for high cholesterol adds up, for an uncertain benefit. And if a child were to be put on a cholesterol-lowering statin, no one is sure what the potential side effects of early and long-term use might be.
That’s one reason the USPSTF did not come down on the side of universal screening.
According to Glueck, most children with high cholesterol could be treated with a healthier diet. It’s estimated that about 15 to 20 children out of every 300 U.S. kids may have high cholesterol that’s related to diet and lifestyle.
A smaller proportion — about one in every 300 to 500 children — have an inherited form of high cholesterol called familial hypercholesterolemia. That causes high LDL levels starting early in life, and often leads to heart disease by the time a person is in his 40s or 50s.
Those kids may be placed on statins.
