Estimating Heart Failure Risk in the U.S. Population with the PREVENT Calculator

Clinicians might be unaware that PREVENT, the new cardiac risk calculator from the American Heart Association, can calculate both atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and heart failure risk (NEJM JW Gen Med Jul 15 2024 and Circulation 2024; 149:430). In this study, researchers identified ≈5000 people without known cardiovascular disease from nationally representative survey data and evaluated heart failure risk using the PREVENT calculator.

The mean 10-year heart failure risk was 3.7%. With risk categories defined as low (<10%), intermediate (10–19.9%), and high (≥20%), an estimated 15 million U.S. adults are at intermediate or high risk. Among those with elevated risk, ≈50% had elevated blood pressure (systolic BP, >130 mm Hg) and ≈50% we…