The absence of lipid- and blood pressure–lowering targets in the new CVD prevention guidelines represents a “missed opportunity” for optimal risk reduction, says a leading cardiologist. 

Dr Prasanna Venkataraman, from St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, has welcomed the addition of coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring but believes the recommendations for its use were “very cautious”. 

Last month, the National Heart Foundation of Australia released the updated guidelines and a revamped risk calculator, which scrapped the decades-old Framingham-based risk equation for the contemporary PREDICT-1° algorithm. 

In addition to the traditional risk variables, the calculator now takes into account recent use of antihypertensives, statins or antithrombotics when assessing patients’ risk of CVD.