Childhood cholesterol

Awareness of the dangers of untreated high cholesterol levels has increased in recent years, with many more people being tested and diagnosed. High levels of cholesterol in the blood increases your risk of a heart attack or stroke.

A genetic disorder (called Familial Hypercholesterolaemia, or FH), which increases blood cholesterol, is thought to affect one in 500 people in the UK, and those who carry it are more likely to develop heart disease at a younger age than other people.

Because FH is inherited, there’s a 50% chance that the siblings, children and parents of a person with the disorder will have it themselves.

Children as young as eight, who carry the genes for high cholesterol, may already have plaque on their arteries and by the time they reach their twenties they can have arteries of a 50 year old.

Diet and exercise play an important role in maintaining good cholesterol levels in otherwise healthy people but the genetic condition usually requires medication alongside a healthy lifestyle. If the genetic disorder is diagnosed in a child, lifelong treatment with statins can halve their cholesterol levels.

New guidelines for doctors from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommend that children of individuals with FH should have a blood cholesterol test by the age of 10.