“While there is some evidence that ABI, CAC, and hsCRP can slightly improve clinicians’ ability to define risk, the amount of improvement is not large or precise enough to help clinicians make better treatment or care decisions to prevent heart attack or stroke,” says Task Force member Seth Landefeld, M.D. “More research is needed to understand the benefits and harms of using these three nontraditional risk factors in addition to the traditional risk factors for assessing CVD risk.”

This draft recommendation updates and is consistent with the 2009 recommendation statement.The Task Force’s two draft recommendation statements and draft evidence reviews have been posted for public comment on the Task Force Web site at www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org. Comments can be submitted from January 16, 2018 to February 12, 2018 at www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/tfcomment.htm.


The Task Force is an independent, volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine that works to improve the health of all Americans by making evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services such as screenings, counseling services, and preventive medications.

Dr. Krist is a professor of family medicine and population health at Virginia Commonwealth University and an active clinician and teacher at the Fairfax Family Practice Residency. He is co-director of the Virginia Ambulatory Care Outcomes Research Network and director of community-engaged research at the Center for Clinical and Translational Research.

Dr. Landefeld is the chair of the department of medicine and the Spencer chair in medical science leadership at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine. Dr. Landefeld also serves on the board of directors of the American Board of Internal Medicine, the UAB Health System, and the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation.

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