Exploring the 'Heart Percentile' Calculator: A New Era in Cardiovascular Risk Assessment for Young Adults

Northwestern Medicine’s new online heart percentile calculator reframes long‑term cardiovascular risk for young adults by reporting 30‑year risk relative to age‑ and sex‑matched peers. It converts PREVENT‑derived 30‑year absolute risk into an age‑ and sex‑specific percentile, creating a peer‑relative benchmark that complements traditional short‑term estimates and provides an immediate patient‑facing conversation starter for long‑term prevention.

Required inputs are systolic blood pressure, lipid levels (total and/or LDL cholesterol), smoking status, diabetes history, and an index of kidney function. These data feed the PREVENT equations to estimate 30‑year risk, which the tool then maps to an age‑ and sex‑matched percentile distribution.

Percentile ranks improve comprehension by giving patients a relative benchmark they can readily compare to peers. Framing long‑horizon risk as a percentile leverages social‑comparison cognition to make abstract probabilities concrete and more likely to motivate preventive action.