Kids should be universally screened for cholesterol, depression and HIV, according to new recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The new guidelines are updates to the old periodicity schedule and include tests that used to be targeted only toward high-risk kids.
"Outlining evidence-based screenings and assessments that should be addressed at well-child visits, the revised schedule reflects new and revised recommendations published by the AAP over the past year," AAP said in a statement.
The pediatric group recommends that children ages 9 to 11 should be screened for high cholesterol, citing the increasing number of children suffering from obesity. Previously, the test was performed only on kids who were at risk for high cholesterol, but that practice has failed to detect abnormal cholesterol levels in many children. "Instead, we're simplifying things by saying all kids should be screened around age 9 or 10," Dr. Geoffrey Simon, chairman of AAP's Committee on Practice and Ambulatory Medicine, told Health Day.
The new guidelines also include screening young people for depression annually from age 11 until age 21, especially now that suicide has been identified as one of the leading causes of death among young people.
"The incidence of depression starts to pick up in middle school and high school," Simon said. "If we catch depression symptoms early, we can intervene." Early intervention would prevent kids from reaching the point where they would need medication for depression, he added.
AAP also suggests that teens ages 16 to 18 should be screened for HIV, saying that young people aged 13 to 24 account for 25 percent of new HIV infections. Additionally, 60 percent of young people are not aware that they have HIV. Selective screening would leave many teen HIV cases undetected, so a universal screening is needed, the group said.
The new guidelines were published online Dec. 7 in the journal Pediatrics.
