Population-based screening with the Coronary Heart Disease Risk Factor Calculator

Data from the Framingham Heart Study and risk-appraisal models were used to develop a Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) Risk Factor Calculator for early identification of high-risk individuals. The Calculator was tested at an employee health fair for a large northeastern US corporation. Of the 590 employees who registered for cholesterol screening, 514 had their CHD risk calculated, and 134 (26.1%) of this group had a relative risk greater than 2. Elevated risk increased with age, ranging from 26.2% of those younger than 35 years to 75% of the over-64 group. Of special concern was the percentage of individuals below 45 years of age whose relative risk of CHD in the next 10 years was more than twice that of coevals with standard risk. The program also estimates and visually demonstrates possible benefits of interventions, allows monitoring of progress, and serves as an educational aid to motivate behavior modification. In this test, the software functioned as designed, and graphic demonstration of individual risk estimations appeared to motivate several participants to seek medical follow-up.