Reynolds risk score (men)
Reynolds risk score calculator for men
The Reynolds risk score adds two things most heart risk calculators leave out: a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) blood test and whether a parent had a heart attack before 60. This calculator uses the published Reynolds risk score equations for men to estimate your chance of a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular event in the next 10 years.
Your numbers
Nothing you enter leaves this page. You need an hsCRP result (mg/L), a recent cholesterol test and a blood pressure reading. For men 50 to 79 without diabetes or known heart disease.
What you will see
Your estimated chance of a heart attack, stroke, stent or bypass, or cardiovascular death in the next 10 years.
Educational only, not medical advice. This is an estimate for groups of people like you, not a diagnosis.
Source
Ridker PM et al., Circulation 2008 (the Reynolds Risk Score for men); coefficients from the paper's Appendix A and formula from its Appendix C.
Validated in
Built in 10,724 men from the Physicians' Health Study II: US male physicians aged 50 to 79, free of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer, followed for a median of 10.8 years. Few were from minority groups.
Limits
Men only; the women's equation is not offered here. Needs an hsCRP result. Not for men with diabetes or known heart disease, or under 50. Built in one cohort of mostly White physicians with good access to care. Not checked in a separate cohort in the paper.
What the score predicts
The Reynolds risk score for men estimates the chance of a first cardiovascular event within 10 years: a heart attack, a stroke, a coronary stent or bypass, or death from cardiovascular disease (Ridker 2008). It uses age, systolic blood pressure, total and HDL cholesterol, current smoking, hsCRP and whether a parent had a heart attack before age 60 (Ridker 2008).
It was built in the Physicians' Health Study II, a nationwide cohort of US men 50 and older who were free of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer; the analysis kept men under 80 (Ridker 2008). Over a median of 10.8 years, 1,294 of the 10,724 men had a cardiovascular event (Ridker 2008).
Why it needs hsCRP
C-reactive protein (CRP) is made by the liver in response to inflammation (MedlinePlus). A high-sensitivity CRP (hsCRP) test picks up very small rises in CRP and is the version used to estimate heart disease risk; a standard CRP test is a different test (MedlinePlus). Ask for hsCRP by name. An infection or other illness can raise CRP (MedlinePlus), so a result taken while you are unwell may not reflect your usual level.
In the study, men with hsCRP above 3 mg/L had higher risk than men below 1 mg/L even after the other risk factors were taken into account (hazard ratio 1.4), and a parent's heart attack before 60 carried a hazard ratio of 1.7 (Ridker 2008).
No hsCRP result? Use the PREVENT heart risk calculator, the American Heart Association's newer equations, or the ASCVD risk calculator if your clinician uses the older Pooled Cohort Equations. Already had a coronary calcium scan? The MESA heart risk calculator uses your CAC score.
How it is calculated
The paper prints the formula in its Appendix C (Ridker 2008). First add up B:
| Factor | Coefficient |
|---|---|
| Natural log of age (years) | 4.385 |
| Natural log of systolic blood pressure (mm Hg) | 2.607 |
| Natural log of total cholesterol (mg/dL) | 0.963 |
| Natural log of HDL cholesterol (mg/dL) | -0.772 |
| Current smoker | 0.405 |
| Natural log of hsCRP (mg/L) | 0.102 |
| Parental history of heart attack before 60 | 0.541 |
Then the 10-year risk is 1 minus 0.8990 raised to the power exp(B minus 33.097) (Ridker 2008). The same coefficients appear as Model B in the paper's Appendix A (Ridker 2008). The paper does not print a worked example, so our tests check the formula by hand and check that a man with the cohort's median values (age 63, systolic 128, total cholesterol 203, HDL 42.5, hsCRP 0.86) comes out at about 9%, in line with the share of men who had an event during follow-up.
How well it worked
Adding hsCRP and parental history raised the C-index from 0.699 to 0.708 for cardiovascular events, and moved 17.8% of the men into a higher or lower risk group, with most of those moves matching what later happened (Ridker 2008). The gain is real but modest; the score is not a precise forecast for one person.
What about women?
The Reynolds risk score started with a version for women, published in JAMA in 2007 from the Women's Health Study (Ridker 2007). We could not check that equation against a copy of the paper we can read, and we only run equations taken straight from the primary source, so this page does not offer it. Women can use the PREVENT heart risk calculator.
Limits
- All the men were physicians with good access to care, and few were from minority groups; the authors say similar studies are needed in Black, Hispanic and Asian men (Ridker 2008).
- No men under 50 were studied, so the authors advise caution in younger men (Ridker 2008). This calculator only accepts ages 50 to 79.
- Blood pressure, smoking and parental history were self-reported in the study (Ridker 2008).
- It was not tested in a separate group of people in the paper.
- It uses single readings. A different day, or a cold or infection, can change your numbers.
- It does not tell you whether to take a statin or aspirin. That is a decision to make with your clinician.
What to do with the number
Bring the result and your lab report to your clinician, who can weigh it with your full history and the estimate they use in practice.
General safety advice (not part of the source study): chest pain or pressure, shortness of breath, or pain spreading to the arm, jaw or back needs urgent care. Call 911.
Related tools: the PREVENT heart risk calculator, the ASCVD risk calculator, the MESA heart risk calculator, the Framingham risk calculator and the statin eligibility check.
Sources
- Ridker PM, Paynter NP, Rifai N, Gaziano JM, Cook NR. C-reactive protein and parental history improve global cardiovascular risk prediction: the Reynolds Risk Score for men. Circulation. 2008;118(22):2243-2251. PMID 18997194. NIH author manuscript PMC2752381 (Appendix A prints the Model B betas; Appendix C prints the computational formula). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2752381/
- Ridker PM, Buring JE, Rifai N, Cook NR. Development and validation of improved algorithms for the assessment of global cardiovascular risk in women: the Reynolds Risk Score. JAMA. 2007;297(6):611-619. PMID 17299196. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17299196/
- MedlinePlus (National Library of Medicine). C-Reactive Protein (CRP) Test. medlineplus.gov/lab-tests/c-reactive-protein-crp-test/
Written and maintained by the uncovermyrisk.com editorial team. We do not have a medical reviewer; every claim links to its primary source above. Last reviewed: 2026-11-01. Spotted an error? See About.