title: Family history fails to detect the majority of children with high capillary blood total cholesterol.
abstract: To examine the predictive value of family history in detecting children with high blood cholesterol, finger-stick screening was done in 1,118 children ages 9-10 whose parents provided parental and grandparental history of cardiovascular disease events and risk factors. Mean blood total cholesterol was 167.7 mg/dl with no significant gender or ethnic differences. Of 157 children with blood cholesterol 200 mg/dl or greater, only 61 (38.9%) had a family history of early myocardial infarction or hyperlipidemia; however, the prevalence of a positive family history varied from 2.8% in Vietnamese-Americans to 38.5% in Spanish-surnamed students to 52.6% in all other children. Adherence to current policies recommending screening only children with a positive family history will result in failing to detect a majority of children whose blood cholesterol levels exceed desirable levels for adults, particularly those from ethnic families recently arrived in the U.S.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Medicine, University of California, Irvine 92715.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Camp
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Iftner
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Landry
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: N D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002196:Capillaries; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics*; D012307:Risk Factors