Cardiologists develop new way to evaluate heart risks—kidney function, metabolic health included for first time
The American Heart Association (AHA) has unveiled a new risk calculator for cardiovascular disease (CVD) designed to capture more helpful, accurate evaluations of a patient’s risks than ever before. The announcement comes just one day before AHA’s annual Scientific Sessions meeting, AHA 23, kicks off in Philadelphia.
The PREVENT (Predicting Risk of cardiovascular disease EVENTs) risk calculator estimates a person’s 10- and 30-year risks of total CVD, which covers heart attacks, strokes and—for the first time ever—heart failure. It was also designed to identify warning signs of CKM syndrome, a newly defined health condition that covers a patient’s renal, cardiovascular and metabolic health.
Cardiologists with the AHA have published two new documents detailing the science and methodology behind the PREVENT risk calculator: a scientific statement and a methods paper, both published in Circulation.[1, 2]
“A new cardiovascular disease risk calculator was needed, particularly one that includes measures of CKM syndrome, which is highly prevalent in the United States,” Sadiya S. Khan, MD, MSc, chair of the scientific statement writing committee and an associate professor of medicine with the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a statement. “The new PREVENT risk calculator enables clinicians to quantify this risk and may help people receive preventive care or treatment earlier to reduce CVD risk.”
PREVENT risk calculator designed for adults as young as 30
AHA’s previous CVD risk calculator was developed with 10-year risks among patients 40 to 79 years old. PREVENT, however, can determine a patient’s 10- or 30-year risk to maximize its ability make an impact. In addition, the team behind PREVENT wanted it to offer value for patients 30 years old and older.
“Longer-term estimates are important because short-term or 10-year risk in most young adults is still going to be low. We wanted to think more broadly and apply a life-course perspective,” Khan explained. “Providing information on 30-year risk may reveal earlier opportunities for intervention and prevention efforts in younger people.”
PREVENT risk calculator does not include race
Another key update with this new resource is that it does not consider a patient’s race or ethnicity when determining their risk of CVD. While the cardiologists behind PREVENT know there are certain racial and ethnic disparities in place when it comes to CVD risk factors, they believed it was more important to focus on social determinants of health such as education, poverty and a patient’s environment.
“Concerted research efforts are needed to determine the causal and social factors that underlie racial differences in CVD risks and outcomes,” Khan said. “As we strive towards more equitable preventive care, we also acknowledge that racism, and not race, operates at multiple levels to increase risk for CVD.”
The PREVENT risk calculator replaces the AHA’s previous preferred risk calculator, the Pooled Cohort Equation, which was released back in 2013.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.