The Framingham Risk Score was first developed based on data obtained from the Framingham Heart Study, to estimate the 10-year risk of developing coronary heart disease.
[citation needed] For example, nearly 30% of coronary heart disease (CHD) events in both men and women were singularly attributable to blood pressure levels that exceeded high normal (≥130/85), showing that blood pressure management and monitoring is paramount both to cardiovascular health and prediction of outcomes.
[1] Because risk scores such as the Framingham Risk Score give an indication of the likely benefits of prevention, they are useful for both the individual patient and for the clinician in helping decide whether lifestyle modification and preventive medical treatment and for patient education, by identifying men and women at increased risk for future cardiovascular events.
[citation needed] A more useful metric is to consider the effects of treatment.
[citation needed] If they were to take a combination of treatments (for example drugs to lower cholesterol levels plus drugs to lower blood pressure) that reduced their risk of cardiovascular disease by half it means that 10 of these 100 individuals should be expected to develop cardiovascular disease in the next 10 years and 90 of them should not be expected to develop cardiovascular disease.
[citation needed] Despite their widespread popularity, randomized trials assessing the impact of using cardiovascular disease risk scores show limited impact on patient outcomes.
Although there is good evidence that targeting individuals with high total CVD risk is the most efficient way to reduce CVD-related morbidity and mortality, to date trials assessing the usefulness of risk scores at helping clinicians target high risk patients show limited benefit.
[8] Cardiovascular disease is common in the general population, affecting the majority of adults.
It includes:[citation needed] An individual's risk for future cardiovascular events is modifiable, by lifestyle changes and preventive medical treatment.
Lifestyle changes can include stopping smoking, healthy diet, regular exercise, etc.
It is important to be able to predict the risk of an individual patient, in order to decide when to initiate lifestyle modification and preventive medical treatment.
These also important patient outcomes were included in the 2008 Framingham General Cardiovascular Risk Score.
[15] If possible, a cardiology professional should select the risk prediction model which is most appropriate for an individual patient and should remember that this is only an estimate.
[citation needed] The current version of the Framingham Risk Score was published in 2008.
The publishing body is the ATP III, i.e. the «Adult Treatment Panel III», an expert panel of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA.
It performed well and correctly predicted a 10-year risk for CHD in American men and women of European and African descent.
[citation needed] The updated version was modified to include dyslipidemia, age range, hypertension treatment, smoking, and total cholesterol, and it excluded diabetes, because Type 2 diabetes meanwhile was considered to be a CHD Risk Equivalent, having the same 10-year risk as individuals with prior CHD.
Patients with Type 1 diabetes were considered separately with slightly less aggressive goals; while at increased risk, no study had shown them to be at equivalent risk for CHD as those with previously diagnosed coronary disease or Type 2 diabetes.
Cardiology professionals refer to such patients as having a CHD risk equivalent.
CHD risk equivalents are primarily other clinical forms of atherosclerotic disease.
Data from 11,611 patients from a very large study, the NHANES III, were used.
The patients were 20 to 79 years of age and had no self-reported CHD, stroke, peripheral arterial disease, or diabetes.
[medical citation needed] Age: 20–34 years: Minus 7 points.
Total cholesterol, mg/dL: If cigarette smoker: Age 20–39 years: 9 points.
Systolic blood pressure, mm Hg: Untreated: Under 120: 0 points.
Total cholesterol, mg/dL: If cigarette smoker: Age 20–39 years: 8 points.
Systolic blood pressure, mm Hg: Untreated: Under 120: 0 points.
[24] Not only coronary heart disease (CHD) events but also further risks can be predicted.
Risk prediction models for cardiovascular disease outcomes other than CHD events have also been developed by the Framingham Heart Study researchers.