Variations emerge in clinical cardiovascular disease risk calculator

Adults with similar cardiovascular disease risks may receive different scores from a common cardiovascular disease risk calculator when race is included as part of the equation, according to a study published in The Lancet Digital Health.  

Based on this research, the authors note a range of implications, including the potential for physicians to be more likely to prescribe cholesterol-lowering treatment to Black adults. They discuss a variety of ways the pooled cohort equation, the cardiovascular disease risk calculator, could be updated to remove race from the prediction. They also note ways physicians can work with patients to further personalize cardiovascular disease risk monitoring and prevention.  

The study was supported by NHLBI.