Software helps prevent heart disease

New computer software that will allow GPs to more accurately assess which patients are most at risk of developing heart disease has been released for clinical use.

QRISK2 uses a new cardiovascular disease (CVD) equation to estimate an individual’s risk of developing the heart condition over the next 10 years and draws on analysis of 15 years’ worth of real primary care data from the UK.

The QRISK2 software is the result of research using QResearch, a large consolidated database derived from the anonymised health records of millions of patients, created as a result of a not-for-profit partnership between Nottingham University and primary care system supplier EMIS, which created the database.

Researchers from the universities of Edinburgh and Queen Mary and from Bristol and Medway Primary Care Trusts also supported the project.

The release of the software follows an independent validation of the QRISK2 formula in a Department-of-Health-backed study - the third independent study to confirm that it provides a more accurate and fairer assessment of CVD risk than the widely-used Framingham risk equation.