OBJECTIVES: The Health Check Program established in England advises that everyone aged 40–74 years, who has not already been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes, or chronic kidney disease should be assessed for CVD risk using the QRISK tool every 5 years. The current study aims to characterize the patient population that have been assessed for CVD risk within the last 10 years and describe changes in the population profile.

METHODS: The study used data from UK primary care records in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). A random sample of 500,000 patients were selected from a total of 1,275,619 patients who had at least one record of QRISK assessment between 2013 to 2023. Patients’ risk score, demographics, clinical characteristics, and history of lipid testing at first QRISK assessment were described by calendar year.

RESULTS: Amongst those who are newly screened with the QRISK tool, the median age of patients reduced from 55.6 years in 2013, to 49.5 in 2023, and overall risk scores decreased from 8 to 4.4. In 2023, most patients were in the low QRISK category (72.2%). 53.0% of patients assessed were female. There were a higher proportion of patients diagnosed with diabetes (6.5%), than cancer (3.9%), and stroke (0.1%). Most patients had lipid testing prior to their QRISK assessment (94.5%). 70.8% of patients were overweight or obese, and 13.7% of patients were smokers.

CONCLUSIONS: The results from this study represent improvements in the application of the QRISK assessment between 2013 and 2023; patients are screened at a younger age, at a lower level of risk, and with prior lipid testing. This presents potential for improved patient care as higher risk patients are identified earlier. Further research is required to understand whether there are underrepresented groups who are not assessed due to their level of risk, or health seeking behavior.