The Twitter Debate Over Cholesterol Screening In Kids

–Cardiologists discuss the screening controversy in 140 characters or less. My recent post on the debate over cholesterol screening in children provoked a fascinating discussion on Twitter, including comments from several highly knowledgeable experts and clinicians. The discussion started when James Stein, a preventive cardiologist at the University of Wisconsin), tweeted: Lipid screening in kids….

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Experts Disagree About Cholesterol Screening In Kids

(Updated) –Lack of evidence leads to major disagreement over guidelines. Once again the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has performed an invaluable— and almost certainly thankless— service. In a series of papers published in JAMA and Annals of Internal Medicine the USPSTF states unequivocally that there is no good high quality evidence to evaluate…

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How Should SPRINT Influence High Blood Pressure In Children And Adolescents?

–Editorialists say pediatric hypertension in children is ready for a ‘paradigm shift’ Last year’s influential— and highly controversial— SPRINT trial should be used to better inform and influence our understanding and management of hypertension in children, write two influential physicians who have played a key role in the cardiovascular guidelines for children and adolescents. They…

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Dangerous Rapid Calcification Observed In Pediatric Patients After Aortic Valve Replacement

Pediatric cardiac surgeons at Boston Children’s Hospital are warning the medical community about a potentially fatal problem in children and young adults who received a bioprosthetic valve manufactured by Sorin. The surgeons initially became concerned when a young asymptomatic patient died suddenly after her valve underwent rapid calcification, only 7 months after a routine followup echocardiogram found…

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WSJ Article Fails To Raise Key Questions About Cardiovascular Risk In Children

There’s probably no greater public health issue than the long-term  consequences of the childhood obesity epidemic. So the Wall Street Journal should be commended for digging into some of the important science behind this problem in a feature article in today’s paper. The author, Ron Winslow, is widely regarded as the best working journalist who…

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Guest Post: Children Should Have Their Cholesterol Checked

Editor’s Note: CardioBrief is pleased to publish this guest post written by Samuel Gidding, the head of the cardiology division at the Nemours Cardiac Center at A. I. DuPont Hospital for Children and a professor of pediatrics at Jefferson Medical College. CardioBrief invited Gidding, a member of the NHLBI panel that recommended universal lipid screening at ages 9-11…

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Guest Post– Universal Screening for Dyslipidemia In Children: A Debate With Equipoise, But Tarnished By Industry Influence

Editor’s Note: CardioBrief is pleased to publish this guest post written by James Stein, a professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin and the director of preventive cardiology at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. This post is accompanied by a separate post by Larry Husten. Universal Screening for Dyslipidemia in Children:  A Debate with…

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