AHA/ACC Special Report: Use of Risk Assessment Tools to Guide Decision-Making in the Primary Prevention of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD)

Published: November 10, 2018

doctor using a digital tablet while talking to a couple
  • The document serves as a companion to the 2018 Cholesterol Clinical Practice Guidelines and 2017 Hypertension Clinical Practice Guidelines.
  • Quantitative absolute risk assessment in clinical practice has a prominent role in U.S. and international guidelines to facilitate decision-making in primary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
  • This special report summarizes the rationale and evidence base for quantitative risk assessment, reviews strengths and limitations of existing risk scores, discusses approaches for refining individual risk estimates for patients, and provides advice for implementation of risk assessment and decision-making strategies in clinical practice.

New Approaches to Cardiovascular Risk Assessment

Donna Arnett, PhD, interviews Don Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM about new developments in the science of cardiovascular risk assessment informing the 2018 Guideline on the Management of Blood Cholesterol.