The screenings, part of the AAP/Bright Futures: (pdf): Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents, are covered by insurance, without cost sharing, under the Affordable Care Act.
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The updated recommendations include screenings to see if children have high cholesterol.
But what can we really do if a 10-year-old child has high cholesterol?
According to the AAP, the recommendations “are designed for the care of children who are receiving competent parenting, have no manifestations of any important health problems, and are growing and developing in satisfactory fashion”.
One of the most recent changes, made in October, drops a recommendation that 18-year-olds undergo routine vision screening. Of course, if it is determined that a child might be at higher risk for high cholesterol, interventions may be necessary.
The new guidelines also include screening young people for depression annually from age 11 until age 21, especially now that suicide has been identified as one of the leading causes of death among young people.
Doctors should now screen all kids for high cholesterol, depression, and HIV, with some tests starting as early as age 9, according to the guidelines released by the American Academy of Pediatrics today in the journal “Pediatrics”.
“The goal is to identify risk factors early on, so we reduce their heart disease risk as adults”, explains study author Dr. Geoffrey Simon, of Nemours DuPont Pediatrics in Wilmington, Delaware.
A screening for dyslipidemia, or high blood cholesterol levels, has been added for patients between 9 and 11 years old. And while just a smear-about the size of a grain of rice-of toothpaste should be used up to age 3, that amount should be increased to the size of a pea after a child’s third birthday.
A risk assessment is added at 15 and 30 months for hematocrit or hemoglobin screening to help detect anemia, an iron deficiency.
An HIV screen will also be added for adolescents between 16 and 18 years old. “I think depression is a big problem and it’s something we need to watch out for”, said the mother of one, Sierra Vanni.
“We know from national surveys that adolescents are having sex and are not good about having protection”, said Children’s National Health System medical director Dr. Lee Beers.
“Outlining evidence-based screenings and assessments that should be addressed at well-child visits, the revised schedule reflects new and revised recommendations published by the AAP over the past year”, AAP said in a statement. A questionnaire given by doctors to teens would ask things like, “Have you ever been in a auto with someone who was intoxicated?”
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