PARENTS BEHAVIOR AND ATTITUDES TOWARD SCREENING CHILDREN FOR HIGH SERUM-CHOLESTEROL LEVELS

The American Academy of Pediatrics, concerned that pediatric cholesterol screening may lead to mislabeling and overly restrictive diets, stresses laboratory confirmation and nutritional follow-up for children with elevated cholesterol levels. Parents' behavior and attitudes toward screening children for high cholesterol were studied. During an 8-week period in summer of 1989 all children 2 through 15 years of age seen for well-child examinations at a community pediatric group practice were offered cholesterol screening by finger-stick method. Most parents were well-educated and white. Of 439 children screened, 134 (31%) had cholesterol levels above the recommended cutoff point of 175 mg/dL (75th percentile). Only 63 children returned for confirmatory lipid panels; parents of children who did not return were interviewed. Reasons for noncompliance included "not sure test machine was accurate" (67%); "child too traumatized by finger stick" (47%); and "will try low-cholesterol diet before recheck" (40%). A third of these parents believed that confirmation of an elevated cholesterol level "would make the child worry too much." Only 29% of these parents talked with a dietician. In this middleclass, well-educated population, a large proportion of children had elevated screening cholesterol values, but few complied with American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines. As a result, many children may be mislabeled as hypercholesterolemic and may not benefit from screening.