Many people have no idea what their risk is—until it's too late.

A new study raises concerns that the PREVENT calculator may underestimate cardiovascular risk in some young adult populations.

Sudden cardiac death causes about half of the roughly 500,000 cardiovascular deaths that happen every year in the US. The vast majority of these deaths are due to coronary artery disease (CAD).

If current guidelines for cholesterol and high blood pressure treatment remain unchanged, a newly unveiled heart risk calculator would render 16 million people ineligible for preventive therapy. Loss ...