Around one in five adolescents today has high cholesterol levels, which are one of the main reasons that impact their heart health as they grow up. Closely related to life-threatening conditions like stroke and heart attack, doctors say pediatric heart screenings remain uncommon. While genetics plays a powerful role in heart health, children whose parents have heart disease or high cholesterol can silently inherit the same risks.

“Without early checks, these risks can go unnoticed and increase health complications and treatment complexities. It is always better to make preventive health checks a part of a healthy routine for the complete family,” Dr Mayanka Lodha Seth, chief pathologist, Redcliffe Labs, told Times Now. Dr Seth suggests taking a simple full-body checkup for your child to keep non-communicable diseases like thyroid, diabetes, cholesterol, and even heart risks away.

Since healthcare has undergone many advancements, it has become easier to detect heart-related issues with precise and non-invasive tests. And so, doctors say regular cholesterol, diabetes, and other important parameters checked at the right age can reveal conditions like familial hypercholesterolaemia and inherited disorders that can increase the likelihood of early heart diseases. “If these conditions are identified in a timely manner during childhood, it allows doctors to guide families on lifestyle and dietary changes or start treatment to control the prolonged risks,” said Dr Seth.

However, experts feel screenings are underused, as many children as possible who should be tested between the ages of 9 and 11 years, or some even earlier, with a family history of premature heart disease, are not evaluated. “Busy pediatric visits, inconsistent guidelines, and a lack of awareness among parents contribute to these missed opportunities. In regions where routine checks are less common, these gaps leave many vulnerable families unaware of their child’s risk,” Dr Seth added.