Tools May Calculate Heart Risk Too High

Calculators used to assess people’s risk of heart problems may put those odds too high, a new study finds. Calculators use cholesterol levels, blood pressure and other factors to estimate risk. They are based on research. The newest one was released in 2013. It came from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology (AHA/ACC). The new study looked at this calculator and 4 others. It tested them using data from a heart study that began in 2000. That study included 4,200 Americans, ages 50 to 74. When the study began, they did not have heart disease. Researchers plugged their early numbers into the calculators. Then they compared the results with what  happened to people in the next 10 years. On average, 4 calculators estimated people’s risk too high, by 8% to 154%, the study found.