Changes to CVD guidelines will benefit patients just below the high-risk threshold, but questions remain over the new percentage-based risk categories, says a leading GP.

The RACGP-endorsed Australian CVD Risk Calculator — released by the National Heart Foundation of Australia last week — includes a recalibrated version of the PREDICT-1° algorithm, based on data from a New Zealand primary cohort study and adjusted for the Australian population. 

Emeritus Professor Mark Harris, who was not involved in the guidelines’ development, said it was a “big shift” from the previous calculator and decades-old Framingham equation.  

He said GPs would benefit from the ability to adjust risk estimates according to new reclassification factors: severe mental illness, ethnicity, family history and coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring.