Now the drugs companies are going after preschoolers. This whole piece is 100% PHARMACEUTICAL PROPAGANDA. I can just imagine the number of idiots and or frightened parents out there who will now drag their 5 year olds in to be tested and given harmful drugs to address a "problem" that is wholly the invention of the Drug companies.

Parents, DON'T BRING YOUR KIDS TO BE TESTED! PLEASE! Keep them away from the harmful ingredients in today's food, don't feed them Burger King and your children will be fine. The REAL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES show that PEOPLE WITH HIGH CHOLESTEROL LIVE THE LONGEST! Do a little research.

Pharmaceutical companies exist to make a profit, not to make you and your family healthy. The best way to sell a product is to scare the public into believing they ( or their children) are at risk of getting sick or dieing if they don't go and get tested and take the latest life saving drug, right away.
Please consider that this article is designed to scare you into doing something that benefits the drug manufactures at the detriment to you and your kids, not to mention your pocket book.

You don't need these drug and You're kids most certainly do not need to have their cholesterol checked.

I was not on a statin while I was pregnant. It is a category X medication. I did have an unplanned pregnancy the 1st time, stopped statin right when I knew and remained off until after breastfeeding. It did cause quite a bit nervousness since I knew the birth defects caused by these type of medications, but everything came out fine (in my case). I didn't take birth control because the few times I tried, it had potentially increased my cholesterol levels. However, when I restarted the statins after pregnancy, this time I had a smart enough physician who said that he would not write for the medication unless I was on birth control. There were more options such as a patch and the ring that wouldn't have as much effects on my levels (they don't go thru first pass metabolism in the liver...this is another whole topic of discussion though).

So second time around I stopped statin a few months before, started on Welchol which can be used in pregnancy (under supervision of your physician). My cholesterol does get pretty high during pregnancies, but it is for a short amount of time and hopefully not cause too much damage.

I replied to this blog not with concrete answers for everyone, but with a testimonial of my trials and tribulations. Health care decisions should be made based on BOTH well constructed clinical trials as well as "anecdotal" experiences. Clinical trials provide great information/data on safety and efficacy, but "anectodals" give you real life experience.

For example, being a pharmacist, I make recommendations on a daily basis on OTC (over the counters). I make my recommendations based on safety and efficacy provided by manufacturers and studies. However, I encourage my customers to come back and let me know how it worked for them. By doing this, I get real life info such as "well it worked great, but it tastes aweful" or "worked but still kept me up all night". This type of info allows me to provide the next customer a better picture. I'll recommend a certain product but then tell them, "my customers also tell me they experience ____, so you might want to try doing ______"

In the past, a doctor would prescribe something and the unknowledgeable patient obeyed and took what was given. We now live in an era where we are surrounded by information. In any disease, I encourage everyone to ask questions, look at published data, and ask people with previous experiences. That way you have a complete picture to be able to make well informed decisions. The only caveat to this is beware, it may stress you out even more. What used to be "black and white" to us (dr. prescribes something, you take it), now is becoming "gray" (conflicting studies, risk versus benefit, etc).

Sorry for the length. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have as far as my experiences go with hyperlipidemia.

Kind regards.

Ths is my favorite part of the article "If we are more aggressive about this in childhood, I think we can have an impact on what happens later in life ... and avoid some of these heart attacks and strokes in adulthood," Daniels said. He has worked as a consultant to Abbott Laboratories and Merck & Co., but not on matters involving their cholesterol drugs." HE WORKS FOR A PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY. Of course he is going to say that kids should be put on cholesterol lowering drugs, that is BILLIONS of more dollars in profit for the money hungry companies.

You know what else would have an impact on what happens later in life?? life??? A HEALTH DIET. AN ACTIVE LIFE STYLE....GIVE ME A BREAK!!!

wow.... this article......... just.....WOW. unbelievable.

There is no evidence even in adult women that statins prevent deaths. Look at the real studies. Not in a single study of statins there was a reduction of mortality among women. In one study more women died among those taking statins than those taking placebo. Sure the numbers failed to reach statistical significance, but wouldn't you expect to see fewer deaths? Cochrane review – an authority for unbiased medical information – failed to find any evidence that statins benefit women. And you are talking about children!

Nobody knows if statins work because they reduce cholesterol or because they make plaque less unstable and less likely to break off. If it is the latter, than it isn't at all clear that statins would help to someone who doesn't have a heart desease yet.

Also risk of side effects is just that – a risk. It doesn't mean everyone will experience it. So one person was able to have a baby which didn't have abnormalities. She is one person. Even if there is an extremely high risk of birth defects – and statins are classified by the FDA as class X drugs i.e. drugs that can potentially cause fetal abnormalities. Even high risk like 50%, means that half of the kids will be fine. So saying that Jamie Kelly was able to have a baby that was not stillborn, that had no vision or hearing loss or multiple organ system failure or any malformations – all potential side effects of insufficient cholesterol that is needed for normal child development – doesn't mean another mother would be so lucky. Unplanned pregnancies happen all the time.

You are saying that it is better to be safe then sorry. But statins aren't 100% safe. Just because Jamie Kelly didn't have side effects, dodesn't mean others woud be that lucky. You give statins to a 1000 kids. Maybe – and there is no evidence of that – you'll prevent a future heart attack in one of them, maybe in more. But one other kid may die as a result of kidney failure or have cognitive problems. Is the possibility of preventing a future heart attack in one person worth having potentially lethal side effects in another? What about having a deformed baby? Is it worth it? Sometimes it is not clear what is safe and what is sorry.

Ever heard of "first do no harm"?

Statins have been shown to be very effective in reducing heart attack risk in middle aged men with heart desease. There is very little evidence of benefit in other groups e.g. for primary prevention in women Sure they reduce cholesterol, but the bottom line is whether this always translates into heart attack risk reduction. Otherwise you are just treating the lab result. And there is very little for primary prevention except for males at very high risk. HRT also reduces cholesterol. Yet it didn't translate into heart benefits.

As to Jamie Kelly, the plural of anecdotes isn't data. Nobody knows if statins would've made a difference. There is ZERO evidence that treating 8-year olds with statins would reduce their risk of having a heart attack at 30. There is also insufficient evidence of safety. How could you give a powerful drug to kid on an uncertain evidence of future benefit and possible risk of harm? Not to mention that the child would have to stay on statins for many years. There is no evidence that this would be safe for such a long term. Cholesterol is needed for puberty, for growth.

And what about pregnancy? Statins hasn't been shown to be safe in pregnant women. Do you think a child would never get pregnant?