What the Guidance Really Says About Cardiovascular Risk

Key takeaways

• Risk tool used in the UK: QRISK
• Inputs: age, sex, blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, ethnicity, family history, cholesterol
• Most useful single change: Ask what your ten-year risk score is, not just your readings.
• Commonest mistake: Focusing on one number in isolation.
• See a doctor if any of the signs under "When to speak to a doctor" below apply to you.

What it is

An estimate of your chance of a heart attack or stroke over the next ten years. It sits within Heart Health. Here are the numbers, taken from the guidance cited at the end.

The numbers, in one place

What helps

Here is what the evidence supports doing. Some of it will already be familiar.

• Ask what your ten-year risk score is, not just your readings
• Accept the NHS Health Check invitation when it arrives
• Tackle smoking first if you smoke; nothing else comes close
• Treat blood pressure, cholesterol and activity as one package

What to avoid

These come up often, and several of them sound like good ideas.

• Focusing on one number in isolation
• Assuming a normal weight means low risk
• Delaying a check because you feel well; risk is silent

Where to go next

• A Working Checklist for Cardiovascular Risk
• Myths About Cardiovascular Risk, Checked Against the Guidance
• Cardiovascular Risk — the reference entry
• Smoking and the Heart: What Published Guidance Supports
• The Evidence on Alcohol and the Heart, Without the Hype

When to speak to a doctor

Call 999 for chest pain or tightness lasting more than a few minutes, sudden weakness or numbness on one side, facial drooping, or difficulty speaking. Use the FAST test for stroke: Face, Arms, Speech, Time to call 999. Never drive yourself to hospital.

Where this comes from

• NICE — Cardiovascular disease: risk assessment and reduction
• NHS — NHS Health Check

How this page was put together

Every figure, recommendation and warning above is taken from the guidance named in Where this comes from. Nothing on this page is inferred, summarised or generalised beyond what those bodies publish: where they give a number, it is their number, and where they are silent, so are we. Pages are rebuilt whenever the underlying record changes. Sign-off by a named clinician, where it has happened, is shown at the top of the page along with the date.

Medical disclaimer

This article is general information, not medical advice. It cannot account for your own history, medication or circumstances. Always speak to a GP, pharmacist or another qualified health professional before making changes that affect your treatment, and never delay seeking medical advice because of something you have read here. In an emergency, call 999.