Purpose of review: In 2018, the AHA/ACC multi-society Cholesterol Guidelines introduced the novel concept of risk-enhancing factors to be used as a supplement to the pooled cohort risk equations to personalize atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk assessment in primary prevention. In this review, we discuss the rationale and evidence behind each of the risk- enhancing factors to help clinicians perform a more personalized cardiovascular risk assessment.
Recent findings: The risk-enhancing factors are high-risk features that may guide the use of lipid-lowering therapy particularly in intermediate and select borderline risk patients. For the purpose of this review, these factors are divided into 5 categories: (i) race and genetics, (ii) conditions specific to women (iii) lipid related risk, (iv) concurrent high-risk medical conditions, and (v) biomarkers.
Summary: The addition of the risk-enhancing factors to the pooled cohort equations provides a more individualized and comprehensive approach to cardiovascular disease risk assessment.
Keywords: Risk-enhancing factors; atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease; biomarkers; lipid; race and genetics; risk assessment.