Heart & circulation

PREVENT calculator: AHA 10-year cardiovascular risk

Estimate your 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease with the American Heart Association PREVENT equations (2023). Enter your age, cholesterol, blood pressure and kidney function (eGFR), and answer four yes-or-no questions. The headline is total cardiovascular disease, which combines heart attack, stroke and heart failure; your 10-year ASCVD risk (heart attack and stroke) is shown with it. PREVENT is for adults aged 30 to 79 who have never had a heart attack, stroke or heart failure.

AgeyearsPREVENT was developed and tested in adults aged 30 to 79. Outside that range it gives no estimate.SexPREVENT uses separate equations for women and men.Total cholesterolmg/dLFrom a recent lipid panel. The equations accept 130 to 320 mg/dL.HDL cholesterolmg/dLThe HDL ("good") cholesterol from the same panel. The equations accept 20 to 100 mg/dL.Systolic blood pressuremmHgThe top number of your blood pressure reading. The equations accept 90 to 200 mmHg.Taking blood pressure medicineAnswer yes if you currently take any medicine to lower your blood pressure.Taking a statinAnswer yes if you currently take a statin, such as atorvastatin, rosuvastatin or simvastatin.DiabetesAnswer yes if a clinician has diagnosed diabetes.Current smokerAnswer yes if you smoke now.eGFR (kidney function)mL/min/1.73m²Estimated glomerular filtration rate from a blood test, calculated with the race-free 2021 CKD-EPI equation. The equations accept 15 to 150. If you only have a creatinine result, the eGFR calculator on this site converts it.

Enter your values above to see your result and what it means.

What the PREVENT calculator estimates

PREVENT stands for Predicting Risk of cardiovascular disease EVENTs. The American Heart Association released the equations in 2023, and they were published in Circulation in 2024. They were derived and validated in 46 datasets covering more than 6 million US adults aged 30 to 79 who had no known cardiovascular disease. The main outcome is total cardiovascular disease: fatal and nonfatal heart attack, stroke and heart failure combined. ASCVD, the narrower outcome shown as a readout here, covers coronary heart disease (heart attack and death from coronary disease) and stroke. The equations are separate for women and men, contain no race term, and account for the chance of dying from other causes first.

PREVENT vs the ASCVD risk calculator (Pooled Cohort Equations)

The 2013 Pooled Cohort Equations are the older US standard and still appear in the 2019 ACC/AHA primary prevention guideline. PREVENT was developed to fix known problems with them: they predicted ASCVD only, they required a race input, and in modern data they overestimated risk. In the PREVENT validation data the Pooled Cohort Equations overestimated ASCVD risk by about 50%, while PREVENT was well calibrated. Expect a PREVENT ASCVD figure to be lower than the Pooled Cohort figure for the same person. You can compare both with the ASCVD risk calculator on this site (symptomatik.com/calculators/ascvd-risk/).

PREVENT compared with the 2013 Pooled Cohort Equations
Feature	PREVENT (2023)	Pooled Cohort Equations (2013)
Age range	30 to 79	40 to 79
Outcomes	Total CVD (heart attack, stroke, heart failure) and ASCVD	ASCVD (heart attack, stroke)
Race input	None	White, African American, or White equations for others
Kidney function (eGFR)	Included	Not included
Statin use	Included	Not included
Risk categories	None published	Low, borderline, intermediate, high

How the PREVENT score is calculated

Each input is centred on a reference value: age on 55 years, non-HDL cholesterol (total minus HDL, converted to mmol/L by multiplying mg/dL by 0.02586) on 3.5 mmol/L, and blood pressure and eGFR with separate slopes above and below 110 mmHg and 60 mL/min/1.73m². The weighted terms, including interactions with age, are added up and turned into a probability with a logistic function. The paper gives a worked example, reproduced exactly by this calculator: a 50-year-old with total cholesterol 200 mg/dL, HDL 45 mg/dL, systolic pressure 160 mmHg on treatment, diabetes, no smoking, eGFR 90 and no statin.

Published PREVENT example (age 50, TC 200, HDL 45, treated SBP 160, diabetes, nonsmoker, eGFR 90, no statin)
Sex	10-year total CVD	10-year ASCVD
Female	14.7%	9.2%
Male	16.3%	10.2%

Limits of this calculator

PREVENT estimates population risk for people without established cardiovascular disease. If you have had a heart attack, stroke or heart failure, this tool does not apply; talk to your clinician about your risk instead. It gives no estimate outside ages 30 to 79 or outside the input ranges the equations were built on. This page shows the 10-year base model only; PREVENT also has 30-year estimates, a heart failure equation, and optional versions that add urine albumin, HbA1c and a social deprivation index. A risk score is a starting point for a conversation with a clinician and does not decide treatment.

Frequently asked questions

What is the PREVENT calculator?

It is the American Heart Association risk calculator released in 2023. It estimates the 10-year chance of a first heart attack, stroke or heart failure for adults aged 30 to 79 without known cardiovascular disease, using age, sex, cholesterol, blood pressure, kidney function, diabetes, smoking, and use of blood pressure medicine and statins.

What is a good PREVENT score?

Lower is better, but neither the PREVENT paper nor the AHA calculator defines official low, intermediate or high categories. The meaning of a given percentage depends on your age and the rest of your health picture, which is why the number is best discussed with a clinician.

How is PREVENT different from the ASCVD risk calculator?

The ASCVD risk calculator uses the 2013 Pooled Cohort Equations, which start at age 40, need a race input and predict heart attack and stroke only. PREVENT starts at 30, has no race term, adds kidney function and statin use, and also predicts heart failure.

Why is my PREVENT result lower than my ASCVD score?

In the data used to validate PREVENT, the Pooled Cohort Equations overestimated ASCVD risk by about 50%, while PREVENT matched observed events closely. A lower PREVENT figure for the same person is expected and reflects the newer, better-calibrated equations.

Does a PREVENT score tell me whether to take a statin?

No calculator can make that decision. Clinicians use risk estimates together with LDL cholesterol, family history, other conditions and your preferences in a shared discussion. Keep taking any medicine you have been prescribed and talk to your clinician before changing anything.