Risk calculators
Health professionals often use risk calculators to assess their patients' 10 year cardiovascular risk to help them identifying the need for lifestyle changes and medication
Risk calculators generate a 'score' which estimates the probability of cardiovascular disease in individuals who have not already developed major atherosclerotic disease. These scores aid decision making in clinical practice and guide the type of interventions that doctors and other health care professionals advise and prescribe.
Risk calculators should not be used for people already identified as being at high risk, such as those with diabetes or FH.
Risk calculators have been developed based on the following:
Framingham
Until recently, NICE recommended this equation for calculating cardiovascular risk.
Joint British Societies (JBS)
The official cardiovascular risk charts published in the British National Formulary (BNF) are based on those given in the JBS2 guidelines.
JBS3
The Joint British Societies' consensus recommendations for the prevention of cardiovascular disease (JBS3) are now available, and refer to lifetime risk as well as 10 year risk. Download the calculator.
ASSIGN
ASSIGN was developed for use in Scottish populations and includes risk factors not used by Framingham, such as family history and social deprivation. Access the ASSIGN tool at www.assign-score.com
QRISK®3
This risk algorithm has been developed by doctors and academics working in the UK and is based on routinely collected data from many thousands of GPs across the country. A version using lifetime risk is available at www.qrisk.org
Lipoprotein (a) Clinical Guidance Tool - will help determine how much someone's Lipoprotein (a) level increases their risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Currently NICE Guidelines do not recommend incorporating the results of Lipoprotein (a) testing into cardiovascular risk assessment/FH guidance. HEART UK have asked NICE to consider how recent published evidence on Lipoprotein (a) can be used to update existing guidance to improve the management of patients and families with high Lipoprotein (a), rather than defer this until novel Lipoprotein (a) targeted therapies arrive.
The Lipoprotein (a) Clinical Guidance tool is available at www.lpaclinicalguidance.com
Page updated 10th March 2025