Final Recommendation Statement:

Risk Assessment for Cardiovascular Disease With Nontraditional Risk Factors

Final Recommendation Statement: Risk Assessment for Cardiovascular Disease With Nontraditional Risk Factors

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released today a final recommendation statement on risk assessment for cardiovascular disease (CVD) with nontraditional risk factors. The Task Force found insufficient evidence on whether additional methods of risk assessment provide more information than traditional measures of risk and help prevent heart attack or stroke. To view the recommendation and the evidence on which it is based, please go here. The final recommendation statement can also be found in the July 10 online issue of JAMA.

The Final Recommendation Statement Is Available

FINAL RECOMMENDATION SUMMARY

See the full statement

Population

Recommendation

Grade

Adults

The USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of adding the ankle-brachial index (ABI), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level (hsCRP), or coronary artery calcium (CAC) score to traditional risk assessment for CVD in asymptomatic adults to prevent CVD events.

WHY THIS MATTERS

"While there is some evidence that the ABI, CAC, and hsCRP can provide clinicians with additional information on risk, we could not determine whether this was enough to help clinicians make better treatment or care decisions,” says Task Force member Michael Barry, M.D. “More research is needed to know if adding these three tests for nontraditional risk factors to CVD risk assessment can help improve our ability to prevent heart attack or stroke.”