Risk guide
QRISK3 explained: a broader cardiovascular risk model
QRISK3 estimates your 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease using a far wider set of inputs than the classic equations — including conditions that quietly raise risk, such as chronic kidney disease, migraine, atrial fibrillation and severe mental illness.
What it needs
- • Age, sex and ethnicity
- • Cholesterol ratio and systolic blood pressure (plus its variability)
- • BMI and smoking category
- • Diabetes type, if any
- • Family history of premature heart disease
- • Chronic kidney disease, atrial fibrillation, rheumatoid arthritis, migraine, SLE, severe mental illness
- • Steroid, antipsychotic and blood-pressure treatment
How to read the result
QRISK3 returns a percentage for the next ten years and a 'healthy person' comparison — the score someone of your age and sex would have with ideal risk factors. That gap is often more motivating than the raw number.
Why it can differ from ASCVD
QRISK3 was derived from UK primary care records and counts conditions the Pooled Cohort Equations ignore, so the two scores frequently disagree by several points. Neither is the truth; the disagreement itself is useful information to take to a clinician.
Where it falls short
It is calibrated to a UK population and assumes you have no prior cardiovascular event. If you have already had a heart attack or stroke, 10-year primary-prevention risk is the wrong question.
Source
Hippisley-Cox J, Coupland C, Brindle P. BMJ 2017;357:j2099
This guide is educational. It is not a diagnosis and does not replace a conversation with a qualified clinician.
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