Mar 15, 2019
Vidcast: https://youtu.be/vkno1b7LI28
Nearly eighty percent of young women have never had a check of their cholesterol and other lipid levels. This is the finding of a study by University of Pennsylvania cardiologists after reviewing the records of more than 5,000 women admitted to the UPenn hospital for childbirth.
The current American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines recommend that all adults 20 years or older have regular lipid screening. Furthermore, they suggest a spot check once around age 10 and another around age 18. If there is a family history of a lipid disorder, even younger children should also have a cholesterol check between the ages of 2 and 10 years.
One in every three American adults does have elevated cholesterol, a condition that lacks any symptoms until it may be too late. To catch and treat this condition before the inevitable heart attack or stroke, the UPenn cardiologists recommend that every woman should have a lipid test as she enters her prenatal care.
I’d add that her significant other, the prospective dad, should also visit his doctor and have the cholesterol and lipid testing done as part of a general checkup. Both parents-to-be are about to run a 21 year plus marathon, need to be in optimal health, and need to stay alive to guide and enjoy the child they are about to bring into the world.
#Cholesterol #lipid #pregnancy #heartattack #stroke
American College of Cardiology. "Women of childbearing age have staggeringly low rates of lipid screening: OB/GYNs may be key to getting more women screened." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6 March 2019. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190306100631.htm.