Heart Disease Risk Assessment
Reviewed
A heart disease risk assessment is a screening tool that uses a questionnaire to estimate your risk of developing heart disease in the future (commonly within the next 10 years, and sometimes 30-year or lifetime risk). It asks about risk factors such as age, sex, blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, activity level, diet, and family history. The result is a percentage; a lower percentage indicates lower risk, and a higher percentage indicates higher risk. This is not a diagnostic test. Discuss your results with your healthcare provider, who may recommend lifestyle changes, medicines, or additional tests.
Preparation and collection
No special preparations are needed.
Understanding this test
Use the reference interval and units printed by the laboratory that performed the test. A result outside that interval is not a diagnosis by itself, and a result inside it does not rule out every condition. Your symptoms, history, medicines, timing, and related tests can change what the result means.
- This is a screening tool, not a diagnostic test. It estimates risk but does not confirm the presence of heart disease.
- Results are based on population data and may not perfectly predict individual risk.
- False reassurance is possible if risk is underestimated; unnecessary worry is possible if risk is overestimated.
- The assessment does not account for all possible risk factors.
What to do next
Discuss your results with your healthcare provider. If your risk percentage is high, your provider may recommend lifestyle changes (e.g., healthy diet, regular physical activity, limiting alcohol, quitting smoking, managing stress and health conditions) and/or medicines (e.g., cholesterol-lowering medicines, blood pressure medicines, blood thinners). Depending on your results, your provider may also order additional tests such as cholesterol levels, electrocardiogram, or a stress test.
Evidence source
U.S. National Library of Medicine: Heart Disease Risk Assessment