Michael J. Blaha, MD, MPH: Hi. I’m Mike Blaha from Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease. I’m here in Chicago at the 2018 American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions, where new guidelines [for cholesterol management][1] have been rolled out.
I’m joined by Dr Donald Lloyd-Jones from Northwestern, who was lead author on the risk-assessment portions of the new guidelines.[2] Today we are going to talk about risk assessment in the setting of the new guidelines—some of the things that have changed and some of the things that have stayed the same. Let’s start with a general overview of risk assessment and where we stand now in the new guidelines.
Approach to the 2018 Guidelines
Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM, FACC: Building on the changes that were introduced in the 2013 guidelines, we really tried to flesh out the details of how risk assessment should proceed. I would encapsulate that very simply as: Risk assessment is a process; it’s not a calculation. There are really three steps: Estimate, personalize the risk, and reclassify the patient if you need to.
Blaha: That is a great point. Personalization…
