Fewer than 1 percent of American kids need cholesterol-lowering drugs, according to a new study in the February 16 issue of the journal Circulation.

 

Last summer, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that doctors consider cholesterol-lowering drugs or statins, for children aged 8 and older if a blood test shows they have LDL levels of 190 mg/dL or higher, LDL levels of 160 mg/dL or higher if there is a family history of heart disease or two other risk factors, or LDL levels of 130 mg/dL or higher if the child has type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

 

The recommendations follow statistics showing that around 30 percent of American children are overweight, exposing them to risks of cardiovascular disease, which have a higher prevalence in males. The American Academy of Pediatrics also noted the subsequent increasing risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus hypertension, and cardiovascular disease in older children and adults, which results from childhood obesity.

 

The recommendations created controversy when they were made, as they encouraged the use of statins whose long-term effects on children are not fully understood.

 

“I think the new recommendations caused a lot of people to be concerned about children having high cholesterol and being put on medications for a good part of their lives. In this study, we set out to produce numbers so we would know exactly what we are talking about in terms of the percentages of US children who may need to be treated or may have high cholesterol levels,” said Earl S. Ford, MD, MPH, lead author of the study and medical officer in the United States Public Health Service.

 

For the study, Ford and colleagues analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999 to 2006, which included information on almost 10,000 children and teens aged 6 to 17, including readings of LDL “bad” cholesterol on 2,700 adolescents aged 12 to 17.

 

According to the findings, nearly 5-7 percent of the teens had elevated levels of LDL, 9.6 percent to 10.7 percent had high total cholesterol, but only 0.8 percent qualified for statin treatment based upon the AAP recommendations. That means that out of about 25 million adolescents in the US, 200,000 need statins to keep their cholesterol levels in check.

 

“I think it provides some perspective on the issue. I think a lot of people thought large numbers of children were probably going to be put on medications for long periods of time,” Ford said.

 

However, he added that, given the rise in childhood obesity and risk factors such as smoking and lack of exercise that adolescents are exposed to, “we need to continually assess and monitor the lipid status of children and adolescents.”

 

The childhood obesity epidemic has become a national problem for years. The worst part is that significant changes in the US diet dating back decades, including fatty and sugary fast foods, snacks, processed foods and beverages and fewer fresh fruits and vegetables, do not seem to help very much. Also, it’s no longer a secret that most children would rather play video games and watch TV rather than do outside activities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends moderate activities such as walking or riding a bike for at least one hour per day.