The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology are excited to provide a series of cardiovascular prevention guidelines for the assessment of cardiovascular risk, lifestyle modifications that reduce risk, management of elevated blood cholesterol, and management of increased body weight in adults.
To support the implementation of these guidelines, the Pooled Cohort Equations CV Risk Calculator and additional Prevention Guideline Tools are available in the tools below as well as the AHA Guidelines On-the-Go Mobile App, found in the Apple Store and Google Play. Others may be developed and available in the near future.
The purpose of the ASCVD Risk Calculator is to estimate a patient's 10-year ASCVD risk at an initial visit to establish a reference point. ACC/AHA guidelines recommend the use of the PCE as an important starting point, not as the final arbiter, for decision making in primary prevention of ASCVD.
The information required to estimate ASCVD risk includes age, sex, race, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, blood pressure lowering medication use, diabetes status, and smoking status.
The ACC/AHA 2018 Cholesterol Guidelines and 2017 Hypertension Guidelines recommend the use of quantitative 10-year risk assessment, based on measurement of traditional ASCVD risk factors and with use of a validated risk prediction tool, as the first step in considering treatment options for primary prevention. Results of 10-year risk estimation should be communicated through a clinician- risk discussion to decide upon the intensity of preventive measures, especially whether to initiate medical therapy.
Estimates of 10-year risk for ASCVD are based on data from multiple community-based populations and are applicable to African-American and non-Hispanic white men and women 40 through 79 years of age. For other ethnic groups, we recommend use of the equations for non-Hispanic whites, though these estimates may underestimate the risk for persons from some race/ethnic groups, especially American Indians, some Asian Americans (e.g., of south Asian ancestry), and some Hispanics (e.g., Puerto Ricans), and may overestimate the risk for others, including some Asian Americans (e.g., of east Asian ancestry) and some Hispanics (e.g., Mexican Americans). After quantitative risk assessment, clinical judgment based on the individual patient's preferences, presence of other risk enhancers, and the selective use of coronary artery calcium scoring, can help to overcome most issues of miscalibration for any risk prediction equations.
The estimates of lifetime risk are most directly applicable to non-Hispanic whites. We recommend the use of these values for other race/ethnic groups, though as mentioned above, these estimates may represent under- and overestimates for persons of various ethnic groups. Because the primary use of these lifetime risk estimates is to facilitate the very important discussion regarding risk reduction through lifestyle change, the imprecision introduced is small enough to justify proceeding with lifestyle change counseling informed by these results.