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Medical Video: Kids and Cholesterol
Some experts recommend doing a cholesterol test if your child has one of the following conditions:
- Your child has parents or grandparents who have had a heart attack, have been diagnosed with a blocked artery or a disease that affects blood vessels, such as a stroke, at age 55 or earlier in men, or 65 or earlier in women
- Your child has parents or grandparents who have a total blood cholesterol level of 240 mg / dL or higher
- Family health background is unknown (for example adopted children), or if your child has characteristics related to heart disease, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, or obesity
If your child is one of these categories, the first cholesterol test can be done after 2 years of age but not more than 10 years of age.
Children have high cholesterol for various reasons such as obesity, diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease, or the performance of an underactive thyroid gland. If the initial test shows high cholesterol, the doctor will check again at least 2 weeks later to confirm the results. If it is still high, the doctor will also determine whether your child has the underlying condition.
A recent government report shows evidence that children with cholesterol problems will grow up with high cholesterol. So, it is important for early to monitor children's cholesterol which may have the risk of increasing high cholesterol.
