Heart Disease Risk Assessment

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. A heart disease risk assessment, or cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment, is a screening tool that measures your risk of heart disease or CVD. Heart disease and CVD are related, but they are not the same thing: CVD is the term for all diseases that affect the heart and blood vessels. ; Heart disease is a type of CVD.

It is the term for a variety of conditions that affect the heart's structure and function, including coronary artery disease (the most common type), heart attack, heat failure, and heart valve diseases.; There are various screening tools that can check your heart disease risk, but they are meant to be used before you have a heart problem. You can complete a heart risk assessment online or at your health care provider's office. The risk assessment includes questions about certain risk factors, including your age, family history, and lifestyle habits such as diet and exercise.

It then calculates your risk of developing heart disease in the future. Even if you feel healthy now, the assessment can show if you need to take steps to prevent or reduce your chances of developing heart disease later.

Why this test is done

Most of the assessments can be helpful if you are 40 to 75 years old and do not have heart disease. If you are younger than 40, there are a few new assessments that your provider may use if you have a family history of heart disease or certain CVD risk factors.

How to prepare

You don't need any special preparations for a heart disease risk assessment.

Other names for this test

cardiovascular disease assessment, CVD risk factors assessment, heart disease risk calculator, ASCVD risk calculator