How many 6-year-olds have too high cholesterol? We know the research results

More than 40,000 6-year-olds across Poland have had their cholesterol levels tested. In 4,000 children, the LDL cholesterol level was above normal. This group of young patients with their parents is already under the supervision of doctors.

We identified a child with familial hypercholesterolemia, the LDL level is 260, and the norm is up to 100. In such situations, we perform a genetic test, then we are 100% sure that one of the parents has the disease - describes prof. in an interview with RMF FM. Małgorzata Myśliwiec from the Medical University of Gdańsk - endocrinologist and pediatric diabetologist, coordinating the research.

"Dad is 41 years old, he didn't want to be examined"

Specialists encourage parents to consent to having blood drawn from 6-year-olds so that their cholesterol levels can be tested. As our reporter found out, consideration is also given to extending the 6-year-old's checkup to include checking the glucose level in order to detect diabetes in children at the earliest possible stage. Decisions on this matter may be made in the coming months. Analyzes in this matter are conducted by the Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tarification.

Specialists also remind us that detecting too high a child's cholesterol level opens the way to checking the parents' parameters.

There is a spectacular example of a father who is 41 years old, felt good, and did not want to undergo a lipid profile. He explained that he practices sports and takes part in sporting events. The LDL level was 380, and when the coronary arteries were examined, it turned out that he had advanced atherosclerosis - emphasizes Prof. Fighter.

I also remember a 6-year-old girl with high cholesterol. She came to me in August last year, and her father died in May. The family only knew that he had a heart attack. The 6-year-old's examination brought the answer - it was familial hypercholesterolemia. We analyze such cases, he adds.

Undiagnosed and untreated hypercholesterolemia causes only 30% of people to reach the age of 60. sick men and 50 percent women.

18 specialist centers for children

The study in question includes, among others: total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides and the so-called non-HDL cholesterol. The key indicator is the LDL level - if it exceeds 130 mg/dl twice, the child will be referred for further specialist diagnostics - to a diabetes, metabolic or endocrinology clinic.

Treatment and health monitoring of children takes place in 18 reference clinics designated for this purpose. In these specialist centers, diseases that may affect lipid disorders are detected and excluded in the child, and in some cases, genetic tests are performed. In addition, primary care physicians received algorithms for when to transfer the patient to specialist care and when to leave and observe the patient at the primary care level.

Detailed results of the health assessment of 6-year-olds will be presented in the second half of October in Wrocław, during the 15th Congress of the Polish Society of Family Medicine.