There is uncertainty whether current strategies for providing CVD risk scores  affect CVD events .
Providing CVD risk scores may slightly reduce CVD risk factor levels and may increase preventive medication prescribing in higher-risk people without evidence of harm .
BACKGROUND The current paradigm for cardiovascular disease ( CVD ) emphasises absolute risk assessment to guide treatment decisions in primary prevention .
Although the derivation and validation of multivariable risk assessment tools , or CVD risk scores , have attracted considerable attention , their effect on clinical outcomes is uncertain .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of evaluating and providing CVD risk scores in adults without prevalent CVD on cardiovascular outcomes , risk factor levels , preventive medication prescribing , and health behaviours .
Communicating risk using absolute risk reduction or prolongation of life formats: cluster-randomised trial in general practice.
BACKGROUND It is important that patients are well-informed about risks and benefits of therapies to help them decide whether to accept medical therapy . Different numerical formats can be used in risk communication but It remains unclear how the different formats affect decisions made by real-life patients . AIM To compare the impact of using Prolongation Of Life ( POL ) and Absolute Risk Reduction ( ARR ) information formats to express effectiveness of cholesterol-lowering therapy on patients ' redemptions of statin prescriptions , and on patients ' confidence in their decision and satisfaction with the risk communication . DESIGN AND SETTING Cluster-r and omised clinical trial in general practice s. Thirty-four Danish GPs from 23 practice s participated in a primary care-based clinical trial concerning use of quantitative effectiveness formats for risk communication in health prevention consultations . METHOD GPs were cluster-r and omised ( treating practice s as clusters ) to inform patients about cardiovascular mortality risk and the effectiveness of statin treatment using either POL or ARR formats . Patients ' redemptions of statin prescriptions were obtained from a regional prescription data base . The COMRADE question naire was used to measure patients ' confidence in their decision and satisfaction with the risk communication . RESULTS Of the 240 patients included for analyses , 112 were allocated to POL information and 128 to ARR . Patients redeeming a statin prescription totalled six ( 5.4 % ) when informed using POL , and 32 ( 25.0 % ) when using ARR . The level of confidence in decision and satisfaction with risk communication did not differ between the risk formats . CONCLUSION Patients redeemed statin prescriptions less often when their GP communicated treatment effectiveness using POL compared with ARR
There is uncertainty whether current strategies for providing CVD risk scores  affect CVD events .
Providing CVD risk scores may slightly reduce CVD risk factor levels and may increase preventive medication prescribing in higher-risk people without evidence of harm .
BACKGROUND The current paradigm for cardiovascular disease ( CVD ) emphasises absolute risk assessment to guide treatment decisions in primary prevention .
Although the derivation and validation of multivariable risk assessment tools , or CVD risk scores , have attracted considerable attention , their effect on clinical outcomes is uncertain .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of evaluating and providing CVD risk scores in adults without prevalent CVD on cardiovascular outcomes , risk factor levels , preventive medication prescribing , and health behaviours .