NP Pulse: The Voice of the Nurse Practitioner (AANP)
Aug 12, 2026 · 23 min · 13 segments
Nurse practitioner and cardiology expert Colleen Walsh-Irwin returns to NP Pulse to give us all an overview of the latest guidelines for dyslipidemia. Walsh-Irwin walks us through what the new…
So I want to talk about all those things, but I want to focus right now on LDL-C.
Unfortunately, the testing numbers are still very low when you look at the number of patients nationwide who are actually having their lipids checked.
Can you just talk about patients who might need an LDL-C test and what the numbers tell us both for individual patients and then the population at large?
Starting at what age? Starting at what age? Well, if you have a history of premature cardiovascular disease in your family or familial hypercholesterolemia, then you should be getting checked at age two.
Everyone else should have their first LDL checked between the ages of nine and 11.
And whether you're a parent or you're treating young children in your clinic, we really should be insisting that they get tested then.
So everybody should be getting checked to make sure that they're not at risk for cardiovascular disease.
Because we know that having high lipid levels leads to cardiovascular disease.
So when we talk about testing, Colleen, what tests are you specifically suggesting? What do the guidelines say that we should order? Is it adjusted cholesterol and an LDL? Is it a lipid panel? Like what should we be ordering when we do this screening?
So a simple lipid panel is the perfect place to start because we're going to look at our LDL-C that's part of that lipid panel because that's what the guidelines really recommend targeting therapy to.
But actually, these new guidelines also recommended that everyone get an LP little a tested at least once in their lifetime, too, because that can identify patients who are particularly high risk.
And those patients we want to be more aggressive with when we talk about treating their cholesterol and reducing their risk of heart disease.
In my office, we will use the ICD-10 code of, I don't remember what the number is, but screening for cardiac disease or screening for cardiometabolic disorders.
So I want to talk about all those things, but I want to focus right now on LDL-C.
Unfortunately, the testing numbers are still very low when you look at the number of patients nationwide who are actually having their lipids checked.
Can you just talk about patients who might need an LDL-C test and what the numbers tell us both for individual patients and then the population at large?
Starting at what age? Starting at what age? Well, if you have a history of premature cardiovascular disease in your family or familial hypercholesterolemia, then you should be getting checked at age two.
Everyone else should have their first LDL checked between the ages of nine and 11.
And whether you're a parent or you're treating young children in your clinic, we really should be insisting that they get tested then.
So everybody should be getting checked to make sure that they're not at risk for cardiovascular disease.
Because we know that having high lipid levels leads to cardiovascular disease.
So when we talk about testing, Colleen, what tests are you specifically suggesting? What do the guidelines say that we should order? Is it adjusted cholesterol and an LDL? Is it a lipid panel? Like what should we be ordering when we do this screening?
So a simple lipid panel is the perfect place to start because we're going to look at our LDL-C that's part of that lipid panel because that's what the guidelines really recommend targeting therapy to.
But actually, these new guidelines also recommended that everyone get an LP little a tested at least once in their lifetime, too, because that can identify patients who are particularly high risk.
And those patients we want to be more aggressive with when we talk about treating their cholesterol and reducing their risk of heart disease.
In my office, we will use the ICD-10 code of, I don't remember what the number is, but screening for cardiac disease or screening for cardiometabolic disorders.
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