The Australian cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk guidelines were recently updated by the Australian Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance, which includes Diabetes Australia. These guidelines were developed to support health professionals in the assessment of absolute cardiovascular risk.

Absolute risk, as defined in these guidelines, is the numerical probability of a cardiovascular event occurring within a five-year period. It reflects a person’s ‘individualised’ risk of CVD, as opposed to the traditional method that considers various risk factors, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure, in isolation.

These guidelines make recommendations for assessing absolute CVD risk including:

• people aged 45-79 without known CVD
• people living with diabetes aged 35 – 79
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 30-79.

These guidelines are an important step toward a single preventive approach to CVD in Australia. Clinical decisions based on absolute risk can lead to improved health outcomes by identifying people most at risk and directing the right treatments to them.

The guidelines were developed by ACDPA* and approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

*ACDPA members: Diabetes Australia, Kidney Health Australia, the National Heart Foundation of Australia, the National Stroke Foundation, Cancer Council Australia and the Lung Foundation of Australia.

Resources

Online absolute risk calculator

Risk videos

Australian cardiovascular risk charts