A new study suggests that people of South Asian ancestry have double the risk of heart disease, in comparison with individuals of European descent; however, the existing risk calculators do not account for this difference.

Study lead author Aniruddh P Patel said that earlier heart disease screening and prevention is needed in people of South Asian ancestry. Investigators looked at data from the UK Biobank prospective cohort study, including 449,349 middle-aged participants of European ancestry and 8,124 participants of South Asian ancestry who did not have heart disease at the time of enrollment. Rates of incident atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) (i.e., myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, or coronary revascularization) were assessed. After a median follow-up of 11.1 years, those of South Asian descent had an incident ASCVD rate of 6.8%, compared with 4.4% for people of European descent, with double the relative risk (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.03). After accounting for covariates, risk of ASCVD was 45% higher for individuals of South Asian ancestry (aHR, 1.45). This increased risk was not accounted for by the current risk calculators, including the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Pooled Cohort Equations, or the QRISK3 equations… (Medscape)