[How I explore...the absolute cardiovascular risk at 10 years: from Framingham 1998 to SCORE 2003].
Prevention of cardiovascular diseases should primarily focus on high-risk individuals. In the absence of atherosclerosis manifestations, such persons may be screened by the calculation of the absolute risk of complications during the next ten years or extrapolated at the age of 60 years. This calculation is based upon the analysis of most important risk factors of atherosclerosis. The mode of calculation that prevailed for many years used the Framingham equation determining the absolute coronary risk (both morbidity and mortality) in the next 10 years: a risk equal or superior to 20% is considered as high and requiring specific intervention. The Third Joint Task Force of European and other Societies on cardiovascular disease prevention in clinical practice recently proposed a new mode of calculation (SCORE) based upon the absolute risk of cardiovascular (and not exclusively coronary) mortality (only fatal events and not morbidity): according to SCORE, the threshold of high risk has been set at a risk equal or superior to 5% in the next 10 years. The present article compares the two modes of calculation with their own advantages and disadvantages.
Scheen
A J
AJ
Université de Liège, Service de Diabétologie, Nutrition et Maladies métaboliques, Département de Médecine, CHU Sart Tilman.
D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics; D018570:Risk Assessment