Repercussões de uma asneira: tratar colesterol elevado em crianças

A Big Pharma é terrível! O seu canto da sereia muda rapidamente de audiência. Cardiologistas, endocrinologistas, psiquiatras e, agora pediatras. A Academia de Pediatria Americana propõe que haja rastreamento e tratamento de colesterol elevado em crianças, devido ao aumento da obesidade e diabetes na infância. Que tal tratar as causas da obesidade? Abaixo, transcrevo o resumo do diário do DIA repercutindo a asneira acadêmica. Entendam bem dos dois até mais tardar os dez anos....A próxima proposta será no cordão umbelical. Bem, agora vamos aguardar os "coleguinhas brasileiros especialistas em dislipidemia na infância" começar a tagarelar. Com certeza haverá em algum congresso nacional uma mesa-redonda sobre o tema.

New recommendation for treating high cholesterol in children raises controversy. NBC Nightly News (7/7, lead story, 2:40, Williams) reported that "[w]hen the pediatricians in this country start talking about cholesterol-lowering medications for children,...it may be one indicator of a very big problem." ABC World News (7/7, lead story, 2:40, Gibson) added that U.S. pediatricians have put forth "a new and quite controversial proposal,...calling for an early approach and aggressive approach toward high cholesterol" in children. The Washington Post (7/8, HE2, Kritz) reports that the "American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Nutrition has updated its 10-year-old cholesterol screening and treatment guidelines." The new guidelines were published in the July issue of Pediatrics. Previously, the "recommendations called for testing only kids two and older whose parents have heart disease or high cholesterol levels, or whose disease and cholesterol information is not known." But, the committee now urges "testing [for] all kids with risk factors for heart disease...starting at age two, and no later than age 10." In the New York Times's (7/8, F5) Well column, Tara Parker-Pope writes, "This aggressive new recommendation for warding off heart disease in some children has stirred a furious debate among pediatricians since the American Academy of Pediatrics issued it on Monday." Although "some doctors applauded the idea, others were incredulous. In particular, these doctors called attention to a lack of evidence that the use of the cholesterol-lowering drugs, called statins, in children would prevent heart attacks later in life." AAP member, Stephen R. Daniels, M.D., Ph.D., of Cincinnati Children's Hospital, said that the recommendation "stems from recent research showing that cholesterol-fighting drugs are generally safe for children," the AP (7/7, Tanner) explained. In fact, "[s]everal of these drugs are approved for use in children, and data show that increasing numbers are using them." According to the academy, its recommendation "takes on a new urgency, given the current epidemic of childhood obesity with the subsequent increasing risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus hypertension, and cardiovascular disease in older children and adults," Bloomberg (7/8, Alesci) adds. But, Peter Belamarich, M.D., of the Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York, said that only "[a]bout one percent of children meet the criteria for drug treatment under the new guidelines." Therefore, he, will "avoid prescribing drugs for his patients until there is more long-term safety data on cholesterol lowering medicines in children." The Wall Street Journal's (7/7, Goldstein) Health Blog, Minnesota's Star Tribune (7/8), the Baltimore Sun (7/7, Lhee), AHN (7/7, Hernandez), HealthDay (7/7, Reinberg), MedPage Today (7/7, Peck), WebMD (7/7, DeNoon), and Medscape (7/7, O'Riordan) also covered the story, as did U.S. News & World Report (7/7, Shute) in its On Parenting blog.