Which Framingham model does this use?

It uses the D'Agostino 2008 general cardiovascular disease model published in Circulation, which predicts a composite of coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral artery disease and heart failure over ten years. It uses total cholesterol and HDL rather than the older coronary-only point scores.

What units does it expect?

Cholesterol values are in milligrams per decilitre. If your laboratory reports in millimoles per litre, multiply the cholesterol figure by 38.67 to convert. Blood pressure is the systolic value in mmHg.

What do the risk bands mean?

Below 10 percent is generally considered low risk, 10 to 19 percent is intermediate, and 20 percent or more is high. A result of 10 percent or above usually prompts a conversation about statin therapy and lifestyle change, though local guidelines set their own thresholds.

Who is this calculator valid for?

It is for adults aged 30 to 79 without established cardiovascular disease, diabetes treated as a coronary risk equivalent, or familial hypercholesterolaemia. Outside that age range, or for secondary prevention, the model does not apply.

Should this replace tools like QRISK or the pooled-cohort equations?

Not necessarily. Many regions prefer QRISK3 or the ACC/AHA pooled-cohort equations, which include extra factors such as ethnicity and deprivation. Use whichever tool your local guideline specifies. This calculator is educational and not a substitute for clinical assessment.

Cardiovascular Lipid Risk Calculator (Framingham)

Estimating a patient’s ten-year risk of cardiovascular disease turns a lipid panel and a few risk factors into a single number that guides shared decisions about statins and lifestyle. This calculator implements the widely cited Framingham general CVD model.

How it works

The model is a sex-specific Cox proportional hazards equation. Each continuous variable is log-transformed and multiplied by a published coefficient, and binary terms add a fixed amount for treated blood pressure, smoking and diabetes:

sum  = b_age*ln(age) + b_tc*ln(TC) + b_hdl*ln(HDL)
       + b_sbp*ln(SBP) + b_smoke*smoker + b_dm*diabetes
risk = 1 - S0 ^ exp(sum - meanSum)

S0 is the baseline ten-year survival and meanSum is the mean of the linear predictor in the original cohort. Separate coefficients apply for treated versus untreated systolic pressure, because treatment marks a higher underlying risk. All coefficients come from D’Agostino et al., Circulation 2008.

Tips and notes

Enter cholesterol in mg/dL; multiply mmol/L values by 38.67 first. The tool is valid only for primary prevention in adults aged 30 to 79 and should not be used in people who already have cardiovascular disease, where risk is already high by definition. A result at or above 10 percent typically opens a statin discussion, and 20 percent or more is firmly high risk, but treatment thresholds vary by country. Many services now prefer QRISK3 or the pooled-cohort equations, which add ethnicity, deprivation and other variables. Treat this as an educational estimate to support, not replace, a clinician’s judgement.