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USPSTF scales back approach to lipid screening for women: the USPSTF recommendation for women diverges from those of the NIH and the American Heart Association.

Article Excerpt
When patients reached a certain age (36 for men, 46 for women), it used to mean that it was time, in the eyes of the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), to screen for lipid disorders. But that's changed for female patients.

The USPSTF's latest recommendations (TABLE t) on screening for lipid disorders in adults (1) call for screening women only when coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors are present, regardless of their age. (See TABLE = for a list of CHD risk factors.) That's a major shift from the 2001 recommendation, which stated that all women over age 45 should be screened and women ages 20 to 45 should be screened if they were at elevated risk.

The recommendations for men remain the same: All men older than 35 should be screened, as should men who are between the ages of 20 and 35 who have other CHD risks.

* A different approach from NIH and AHA

The revised updated recommendation for women over age 45 was based on 2 systematic evidence reviews (2,3) that concluded, while treatment clearly benefits women with other risk factors, benefit has not been proven for women who...

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