Framingham risk calculator (2008 general CVD)

Framingham, ASCVD or PREVENT?

The 2008 Framingham "general CVD" equations predict any first cardiovascular event, using sex-specific equations built from age, total and HDL cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, blood pressure treatment, smoking and diabetes (D'Agostino 2008). The 2013 ACC/AHA Pooled Cohort Equations, which pooled several US cohorts including the Framingham studies, predict a narrower outcome: first heart attack, coronary death or stroke (Goff 2013). The American Heart Association's PREVENT equations, introduced in 2023, use newer data, add kidney function and predict total cardiovascular disease from age 30 (Khan 2024).

The Framingham Heart Study's own page for this risk function now recommends the ACC/AHA Pooled Cohort Equations calculator for 10-year ASCVD risk (Framingham Heart Study). Use our ASCVD risk calculator for that number, our PREVENT heart risk calculator for the newest AHA estimate, and PREVENT vs ASCVD for why estimates differ.

What it predicts

"CVD" in the 2008 equations covers coronary death, heart attack, coronary insufficiency, angina, ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, transient ischemic attack, peripheral artery disease and heart failure (Framingham Heart Study). Over 12 years of follow-up, 1,174 of the 8,491 participants had a first CVD event (D'Agostino 2008). The paper reports a C statistic of 0.763 in men and 0.793 in women, which it calls good discrimination (D'Agostino 2008).

The equations

Age, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, systolic blood pressure and BMI enter as natural logs; smoking and diabetes are yes (1) or no (0). Blood pressure has one coefficient if treated and another if not. Each value is multiplied by its coefficient and the results are added up (Framingham Heart Study). The 10-year risk is then (Framingham Heart Study):

risk = 1 − S0(10)^{e(sum of coefficient × value − constant)}

Coefficients as published by the Framingham Heart Study for the 2008 paper (Framingham Heart Study). The paper also offers a points-based score that approximates the equation; this calculator uses the equation itself (D'Agostino 2008).

How we checked it

The Framingham Heart Study publishes spreadsheet calculators for both versions (Framingham Heart Study). Our tests reproduce their stored results exactly. For example, for a 30-year-old with systolic blood pressure 125 mm Hg (untreated), total cholesterol 180 mg/dL and HDL 45 mg/dL, not smoking and without diabetes, the spreadsheet gives 1.7% for a man and 1.3% for a woman.

Input limits

The equations were built in people aged 30 to 74 (D'Agostino 2008). The published coefficient tables print no limits for cholesterol, blood pressure or BMI (Framingham Heart Study). Our editorial team limits total cholesterol to 100 to 400 mg/dL, HDL to 20 to 100 mg/dL, systolic blood pressure to 90 to 200 mm Hg and BMI to 15 to 50, so the equations are not run on extreme values.

Related checks

The heart age calculator turns this same 10-year risk into a heart age you can compare with your real age. The ASCVD risk calculator gives the 2013 Pooled Cohort Equations number, the PREVENT heart risk calculator gives the AHA's 10 and 30-year estimate, and the LDL calculator works out LDL from a standard cholesterol panel. If your blood pressure is not high yet, the hypertension risk calculator uses a separate Framingham score to estimate your chance of developing it.