In November, NICE decided to delay its draft lipid modification advice, due last month, so that the guideline development group could consider the value of QRISK.
Issued this week, the NICE draft guideline now states that 'emerging evidence suggests that QRISK gives a better estimation of risk in the general population than the Framingham equations'.
Developed from the EMIS records of 529 GP practices, QRISK incorporates a logarithm of age, ratio of serum total to HDL cholesterol, systolic BP, BMI, family history of cardiovascular disease, smoking status, Townsend deprivation score and use of one or more BP treatments.
West London GP Dr Sarah Jarvis, a member of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society, said: 'It is a welcome move as Framingham is outdated. It was not developed for the UK and is not representative of the UK population that GPs treat.'
NICE draft lipid modification 2008
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