9-year-olds should get cholesterol screen

DENVER, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Children should be screened for high cholesterol as young as ages 9-11 and again at ages 17-21, no matter what their family history, U.S. researchers say.

The recommendation by the National Institutes of Health and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which aims to combat cardiovascular disease before it starts, replaces the old recommendation, which called for screening children who had a family history of high cholesterol and heart disease, CNN reported.

"The more we learn about heart disease and stroke in adults, the more we know that the process begins in childhood and progresses over time," said Dr. Stephen R. Daniels of the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine and a member of the panel that reviewed the guidelines. "By working with families, we can keep kids at a lower lifetime risk and prevent more serious problems in adulthood."

The panel suggested pediatricians could use a type of cholesterol screening test that does not require children to fast before getting their blood drawn for the cholesterol test.