How can I find out my heart disease risk?Knowing your risk is the first step in taking control of your own heart health. To estimate your risk of heart disease, doctors use a tool called a risk calculator. By answering a few questions and putting in a few of your test numbers (such as blood pressure and cholesterol), you can get a rough idea of your risk of developing heart disease in the next 10 years. Doctors use your risk level to decide how aggressively to treat your risk factors and whether you need to have any diagnostic tests.
There are currently two calculators available: the first is the Framingham Risk Calculator, which has been the standard risk calculator for many years. The second is the Reynolds Risk Calculator, which was...
