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A new version of a tool to help primary care teams more accurately calculate future risk for heart attack and stroke is ready for use across Europe, according to people behind the ‘initiative.
The Risk Calculator for Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease has been described as the new “gold standard” by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), which has helped fund the research behind it.
“This risk management tool is much more powerful and superior than what we have been using for decades”
Emmanuel Di Angelantonio
The association noted that patients flagged by the tool as having an increased cardiovascular risk could be put on personalized preventive treatment, such as statins, or receive lifestyle advice.
The development of the tool follows the European Society of Cardiology wishing to revise their currently recommended risk prediction algorithm known as the Systematic Coronary Risk Assessment (SCORE).
Indeed, SCORE does not allow substantial variations in risk between countries in the same risk region, which means that it can “misjudge” the risk in these circumstances.
The resulting SCORE2 is an updated algorithm suitable for European populations to predict 10-year cardiovascular disease risk with greater accuracy than current tools.
The tool, published today in the journal European Heart Journal, is based on known risk factors for heart and circulatory disease such as age, gender, cholesterol, blood pressure and smoking.
The researchers said it was a much-needed upgrade to SCORE, which was developed using data prior to 1986 and underestimated cardiovascular risk in some countries.
The SCORE2 Risk Calculator now takes into account current trends in heart and circulatory disease, can predict both fatal and non-fatal conditions, and adapts to countries with different levels of risk.
The upgrade will also better estimate cardiovascular risk in young people and improve how treatment is tailored to older people and those in high-risk regions across Europe, the researchers said.
“This will be the new gold standard for doctors to determine which patients are most at risk for these conditions”
Nilesh samani
According to the British Heart Foundation (BHF), which helped fund the research, the risk calculator “will better predict people at high risk for heart and circulatory disease years before they strike.”
To develop the new risk calculator, researchers across Europe analyzed data from nearly 700,000 participants – mostly middle-aged – from 45 previous studies.
Study participants had no history of cardiovascular disease when they were recruited and over the next 10 years, 30,000 had an event, including a fatal or non-fatal heart attack or stroke. mortal.
The tool was then “recalibrated” using cardiovascular and risk factor data specific to the region of 10.8 million people, in order to more accurately estimate the risk for populations divided into four European zones.
Professor Emanuele Di Angelantonio, BHF Research Center of Excellence at Cambridge University and one of the researchers involved in the development of SCORE2, said: “This risk management tool is much more powerful and superior than what doctors have been using for decades.
“It will fit perfectly into current prevention programs with substantial real-world impact by improving the prevention of cardiovascular disease across Europe before it strikes. “
BHF Medical Director Professor Sir Nilesh Samani said: “This new risk management tool is a major breakthrough and will prevent many more people from developing heart attacks, strokes and heart attacks. heart disease.
“It will be the new golden standard for physicians to determine which patients are most at risk for these conditions, and enable personalized treatment and lifestyle advice much sooner.”
This study was carried out by the SCORE2 working group and the European Society of Cardiology Cardiovascular Risk Collaboration.
In addition to the BHF, it has also been supported by the Medical Research Council of the United Kingdom, the National Institute for Health Research Cambridge, the Center for Biomedical Research Cambridge and Health Data Research UK.
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