Cardiovascular Disease Calculator

"People are interested in healthy living, but we don't often have that discussion in the doctor's office," says Dr. Manuel. "Doctors will check your blood pressure and cholesterol levels, but they don't necessarily ask about lifestyle factors that could put you at risk for a heart attack and stroke. We hope this tool can help people—and their care team—obtain better information about healthy living and options for reducing their risk of heart attack and stroke."

Cardiovascular disease, a group of conditions that include heart attack and stroke, is the number 1 killer in Canada. While risk calculators already exist, they usually focus on factors that require medical tests, like blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Based on survey data from over 100,000 Canadians, the calculator lets individuals accurately predict their risk of hospitalization or death due to cardiovascular disease within the next five years. For example, if their risk is 5%, it means that five in 100 people like them will experience a serious cardiovascular event in the next five years. The calculator also provides heart age, an easy-to-understand measure of how healthy the heart is.

Factors in the Cardiovascular Disease Population Risk Tool (CVDPoRT) calculator include:

• Age
• Smoking status and lifetime exposure
• Alcohol consumption
• Diet
• Physical activity
• Stress
• Sense of belonging
• Ethnicity
• Immigration status
• Education
• Socioeconomic status of the neighbourhood
• Diabetes
• High blood pressure