Who should have their cardiovascular health risk assessed?

Average rating:

Current UK guidelines advise that the following people should be 'screened' to assess their cardiovascular risk:

All adults aged 40 or more.
Adults of any age who have:

*A strong family history of early cardiovascular disease. This means if you have a father or brother who developed heart disease or a stroke before they were 55, or in a mother or sister before they were 65.
*A first degree relative (parent, brother, sister, child) with a hereditary lipid disorder. For example, familial hypercholesterolaemia or familial combined hyperlipidaemia.

If you already have a cardiovascular disease or diabetes then you do not need to be screened. This is because you are already known to be in the high risk group.

What does the screening involve?

A doctor or nurse will do a blood test to check your cholesterol and glucose (sugar) level. Your blood pressure will be measured. Your smoking status will be recorded. A score is calculated based on these measurements plus your age and your sex. An adjustment to the score is made for certain other factors such as strong family history and ethnic origin.

What does the assessment score mean?

You are given a score as a % chance. So, for example, if your score is 30% this means that you have a 30% chance of developing a cardiovascular disease within the next 10 years. This is the same as saying a 30 in 100 chance (or a 3 in 10 chance). In other words, in this example, 3 in 10 people with the same risk factors that you have will develop a cardiovascular disease within the next 10 years. Note: the score cannot say if you will be one of the three. It cannot predict what will happen to each individual person. It just gives you the odds.

You are said to have a:

high risk - if your score is 20% or more. (That is, a 2 in 10 chance or more of developing a cardiovascular disease within the next 10 years.)
moderate risk - if your score is 10-20% (between 1 in 10 and 2 in 10 chance).
low risk - if your score is less than 10% (less than a 1 in 10 chance).