CHICAGO (AP) — There's new criticism of a recommendation from a government-appointed panel that there should be widespread screening of U.S. children for high cholesterol.
In Monday's issue of the journal Pediatrics, researchers at one university say the guidelines are too aggressive and were influenced by panel members' financial ties to drugmakers. The article says the panel members' ties pose a conflict of interest that undermines credibility.
Eight of the 14 panel members reported industry ties, which they disclosed when their advice was published in December.
Other criticism was published earlier this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That critique raised concerns about putting children on cholesterol drugs called statins, noting the medicine has been linked with a rare muscle-damaging condition in adults.
Some doctors recommend more narrow screening based on family history of cholesterol problems.
