One of the challenges has been to accurately predict a person’s risk of heart attack and stroke. Various risk calculators have been developed based on 50 years of research. With each revision of the tools used to calculate heart disease and stroke risk, new evidenced-based information is added to improve its accuracy and prevent disease.

Aside from the usual risk factors that are used to calculate risk, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston have devised a new Web-based formula called the Reynolds Risk Score, and state that for the first time more accurately predicts risk of heart attack or stroke among women. The findings of their study appeared in the February 14, 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association and are available in a user-friendly format for both physicians and their patients at www.ReynoldsRiskScore.org

• Dr. Paul Ridker, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and medical researcher and Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health.