Word: cholesterol
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Making decisions about your health is never easy, and things get even harder when the choices involve children. That's why the latest recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to widen cholesterol-testing to include kids as young as 2 is shaking up doctors and parents alike. The academy is also urging doctors to consider treating young patients from families with a history of abnormally high cholesterol levels - a major contributor to heart disease - with medications known as statins...
...While the guidelines target kids with a genetic risk of abnormally high cholesterol, called hyperlipidemia, they could lower the bar for prescriptions - not just for these children but for any overweight youngster whose cholesterol is not in check. Within hours of the AAP announcement on July 7, parents took to the blogs, expressing shock and unease over the aggressiveness of the guidelines. Statins are not without risks; in adults, in rare cases, they can cause muscle weakness and kidney problems, and there are limited data on how statins affect children...
...beyond: heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, gallstones, joint breakdown and even brain damage as fluid accumulation inside the skull leads to headaches, vision problems and possibly lower IQs. A staggering 90% of overweight kids already have at least one avoidable risk factor for heart disease, such as high cholesterol or hypertension. Type 2 diabetes is now being diagnosed in teens as young as 15. Health experts warn that the current generation of children may be the first in American history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents'. "The more overweight you are, the worse all of these things...
...High cholesterol. Soaring blood pressure. A fatty liver. Dangerously elevated insulin levels. Even a first-year medical student could recognize the signs of a middle-aged patient struggling with weight problems and diabetes and probably heading for a heart attack...
...Furthermore, at least the initial patient-doctor interaction appeared to have been similar for all patients: rates of testing for blood-sugar control and for cholesterol, for example, were the same. "That suggests the physicians are implementing standard treatment plans," says Thomas Sequist, lead author of the study and an internist at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates. It's only later, when it comes to treatment and, especially, outcomes, that a disparity is evident...