Universal Lipid Screening in 9- to 11-Year-Olds Before and After 2011 Guidelines

To determine whether the 2011 guidelines for universal routine screening for dyslipidemia in children aged 9 to 11 years, published by the Expert Panel on Integrated Guidelines for Cardiovascular Health and Risk Reduction in Children and Adolescents and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, are being followed by pediatric primary-care providers.

Retrospective data were obtained for 63,951 well-child visits (WCV) in children aged 9 to 11 years from 2 health care systems and 1 insurance program from 2009 to 2015. The proportion of WCV that had a lipid panel or total cholesterol test performed within 1 year of the visit was compared for 2009-2011 versus 2013-2015. Associations between demographic variables and lipid screening were evaluated with logistic regression. The frequency of tested children who had abnormal lipid results was evaluated.

Only 3.5% of 9- to 11-year WCV had lipid tests performed in association with the visit before and after the guidelines. Of those tested, 43% had an abnormal lipid result.

Utah clinicians rarely follow guidelines for universal lipid screening of children aged 9 to 11. This represents a missed opportunity to identify children at risk for early-onset cardiovascular disease.