Cardiovascular Disease Risk Estimator

This tool provides an estimate of your risk of developing cardiovascular disease -- such as Coronary heart disease (including heart attack), Cerebrovascular disease (including stroke), Peripheral vascular disease, and Heart Failure -- over the next 10 years. It uses a Framingham-style risk approach based on well-known clinical factors such as age, cholesterol, blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, and treatment for hypertension.

Note: This tool is provided for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Results should not be interpreted as medical advice. Users are encouraged to consult a qualified healthcare professional for evaluation and guidance specific to their individual circumstances.

How this estimator works

The Framingham Heart Study is a landmark long-term research project led by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in partnership with Boston University. It began in 1948 with 5,209 adults from Framingham, Massachusetts, and has since followed multiple generations of participants. The study is widely regarded as one of the most important sources of evidence in cardiovascular medicine because, before it began, very little was known about the population-level causes of hypertension and atherosclerotic heart disease.

Over time, the study has produced more than 1,000 medical papers and identified many of the major factors that affect heart disease risk. It showed that smoking, obesity, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure raise the risk of heart disease, while exercise and higher HDL cholesterol help reduce it. It also found that high blood pressure increases stroke risk and that filtered cigarettes do not make smoking safer for the heart.

More details on Framingham Heart Study can be found here. The CVD risk scoring details can be found here.