Child-Parent Screening

The Child Parent Screening Programme was part of a national cardiovascular disease prevention programme. Led by HI NENC, the national pilot programme came to an end in October 2024. The programme is currently under evaluation, and further information will be shared soon.

As part of the Child-Parent Screening Programme, Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria (HI NENC) supported GP practices across the region to implement a clinical pathway, to identify children with FH through a simple heel prick blood test, taken at the child’s routine one year immunisation appointment.

What does child-parent screening involve?

Child-parent screening offers a population wide, low-cost solution to the management of CVD and is currently the best model for FH detection.

With parental consent, a child’s cholesterol level is tested at their routine 1 year immunisation visit using a Point of Care heel prick capillary test. If their cholesterol is found to be above a pre specified threshold, the sample will be sent to the local Genomic Laboratory Hub for genetic analysis. Evidence shows that age one is when cholesterol measurement discriminates best between individuals with and without FH and screening newborns or adults is less effective.

Benefits of Child-Parent Screening Programme

Without treatment, FH can lead to heart disease at a young age. Identifying affected individuals before the onset of disease is important because treatments can be put in place that promote a healthy, active life and lowers blood cholesterol levels, all of which substantially reduce the risk of heart disease.

Where a child is identified as having FH, parents, siblings and grandparents can also be tested as necessary potentially identifying full families who have FH. Age appropriate medication and advice can then be offered to families to reduce the risk of cardiac disease.