Download Now from the Google Play Store

There are hundreds of heart health apps on the market today. Most of them do the same thing: they monitor your heart rateHeart rate is how many times your heart beats per minute., track your steps, measure your sleep, and tell you to eat more vegetables. Some of the more sophisticated ones connect to wearables and give you a real-time readout of your pulse. A few will even flag an irregular heartbeat.

These are useful tools. But they are all answering the wrong question.

Heart rate monitors tell you what your heart is doing right now. What they cannot tell you — what no wearable on your wrist can ever tell you — is what your heart is likely to do in ten, twenty, or thirty years based on the genetic blueprint you inherited from your family. That question requires a completely different kind of tool. And until now, no app has been built to answer it properly.

That changes today.

Introducing the Heart Risk Calculator

The Heart Risk Calculator is now available on Google Play, and it represents something genuinely new in the heart health app space. It is not a heart rate monitor. It is not a step counter. It is not a meditation timer or a blood pressureBlood pressure is the force of blood pushing against your artery walls. It is written as two numbers, like 120/80. The top number is the pressure when your heart squeezes, the bottom is when it relaxes. log. It is the first app built specifically around the scientific framework of inherited cardiac risk — the Inherited Hazard Coefficient (IHC)The Inherited Hazard Coefficient is a proprietary quantitative formula (H = Σ(R × W) / A) that weights each family member's cardiac event by degree of biological relationship, severity of the event, and age at which it occurred, producing a single numerical index of a person's inherited cardiac risk load. — developed through years of research and grounded in peer-reviewed literature published in Circulation, JAMA Cardiology, the European Heart Journal, and the Lancet. [1], [2], [3], [4]

The core insight behind this app is simple but profound: your family historyFamily history means whether your close relatives developed heart disease, and how young they were when it happened. is not a yes or no question.

Standard heart risk calculatorsA risk calculator estimates your chance of a heart attack or stroke over the next ten years, using your age, cholesterol, blood pressure, and a few other inputs. — including the widely used Framingham Risk ScoreThe Framingham Risk Score is a specific ten-year heart-attack-risk calculator built from the Framingham Heart Study's decades of data — the original tool that turned "risk factors" into a number. — ask whether you have a family history of heart disease. [5] Yes or no. That’s it. A grandparent dying of a heart attackA heart attack happens when blood flow to part of the heart muscle is cut off and that muscle starts to die. at 82 and a sibling collapsing from sudden cardiac deathSudden cardiac death is when the heart abruptly stops and the person dies within minutes, often with no prior warning. at 39 both get the same checkbox. They are not the same thing. Not even close. And the research is unambiguous about this. [6]

What Makes This App Different

It Asks Who, Not Just Whether

The Heart Risk Calculator organizes your family’s cardiac history by relationship, age at event, and severity of outcome. A fatal event in a first-degree relativeA biological family member who shares approximately 50 percent of an individual's genetic material, specifically parents, siblings, and children; cardiac events in first-degree relatives carry substantially more inherited risk signal than events in more distant relatives. at age 40 carries a fundamentally different inherited signal than a non-fatal event in a grandparent at age 75. The app captures that difference mathematically, using the Inherited Hazard Coefficient formula developed by Peter Megdal, PhD:

H = Σ (R × W) / A

Where R is the relation coefficientThe relation coefficient (R) is the numerical weight assigned to a family member in the Inherited Hazard Coefficient formula based on degree of biological relatedness: 0.5 for first-degree relatives such as parents and siblings, and 0.25 for second-degree relatives such as grandparents and aunts and uncles. (0.5 for parents and siblings, 0.25 for grandparents and aunts and uncles), W is the severity weightThe severity weight (W) is a numerical value assigned within the Inherited Hazard Coefficient formula to reflect how serious a relative's cardiac event was — for example, sudden cardiac death receiving a higher weight than a non-fatal, medically managed event. of the cardiac event, and A is the age at which the event occurred. This formula produces a Family History IndexThe Family History Index is the numerical output produced by the Inherited Hazard Coefficient formula; it summarizes the aggregate inherited cardiac signal across a person's family tree in a single score that can be used to guide screening decisions. that reflects the true inherited signal in your family tree — not a simplified checkbox that loses most of the information.

It Reveals the Imaging Trap

One of the most important — and most alarming — findings in recent cardiovascular research is what clinicians call the Imaging TrapThe Imaging Trap is the clinical scenario in which a patient with significant inherited cardiac risk receives a zero Coronary Artery Calcium score and is falsely reassured, when in reality dangerous soft non-calcified plaque may already be present and detectable only by Coronary CT Angiography.. A standard Coronary ArteryAn artery is a blood vessel that carries blood away from the heart to the rest of the body. Calcium scan, one of the most commonly used screening tools in cardiology, can return a score of zero even while dangerous soft, non-calcified plaqueNon-calcified plaque is the soft, fatty portion of a plaque that has not hardened with calcium. It shows up dark on a CT scan. is actively building in your arteries. [7] For people with a significant inherited cardiac risk, a zero calcium score is not reassurance. It is a false negative.

The 2025 CAUGHT-CAD randomized trial confirmed that in patients with a family history of premature coronary artery disease, Coronary CT Angiography — not standard calcium scoring — is required to detect non-calcified plaquePlaque is the buildup of cholesterol, immune cells, scar tissue, and calcium inside an artery wall. and guide timely intervention. [8] The Heart Risk Calculator is built around this research. It helps you understand whether your family history pattern places you in the zone where standard imaging tools may be inadequate — and arms you with the right questions to bring to your physician.

It Captures What Wearables Completely Miss

Your Apple Watch knows your resting heart rate. It does not know that your brother had a fatal heart attack at 42. Your Fitbit tracks your sleep quality. It cannot tell you that a sibling with premature heart disease confers an odds ratio of 2.48 for your own cardiac risk — a figure documented in peer-reviewed research published in Circulation. [6] Your Garmin measures your VO2 maxVO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during all-out exercise. It is the standard measure of cardiorespiratory fitness.. It has no way of accounting for the gene dosing effectThe gene dosing effect refers to the amplified probability of carrying a pathogenic cardiac variant when both parents have experienced early cardiac events; having two affected first-degree parents roughly doubles the inherited risk signal compared with one, raising the likelihood of a causative inherited mutation substantially. that occurs when both parents experienced early cardiac eventsClinically significant heart-related occurrences—including myocardial infarction, unstable angina, and cardiac death—used as outcome endpoints in cardiovascular trials., raising your probability of carrying a pathogenic variantA pathogenic variant is a gene mutation that has been demonstrated to cause or substantially increase the risk of a specific disease; in the context of inherited cardiac risk, it refers to mutations in genes such as those underlying Familial Hypercholesterolemia that markedly elevate lifetime heart disease probability. to 25%. [9]

Wearables measure what is happening in your body right now. The Heart Risk Calculator measures what your genetic inheritance suggests about your lifetime cardiac trajectory. These are complementary tools, not competing ones — but only one of them is capturing the inherited signal that determines whether standard screening is sufficient for you.

It Gives You Something to Bring to Your Doctor

Every output from the Heart Risk Calculator is framed as a conversation starter, not a conclusion. The app generates a discussion-ready family history summary and a set of specific, clinically grounded questions you can bring to your next appointment. Questions like: given my family pattern, could I have soft plaque that a standard calcium scan would miss? Should I be referred to a preventive cardiologistA preventive cardiologist is a physician subspecialist focused on identifying and modifying cardiovascular risk factors before a first event occurs, using advanced lipid testing, imaging, and genetic risk assessment rather than waiting for symptomatic disease. rather than managed in primary care? Does my family history change how standard risk tools should be interpreted in my case? [10]

These are the questions that can genuinely change the course of a clinical encounter. They are the questions that turn a routine annual physical into a meaningful cardiovascular conversation. And they are the questions that most people never know to ask — because no one has ever organized their family history in a way that makes those questions visible.

It Is Built on Real Science

The Heart Risk Calculator is not a wellness app built on general advice. It is built on a framework supported by more than 40 peer-reviewed publications. The gene dosing model that underlies the Inherited Hazard Coefficient is grounded in foundational research on Familial HypercholesterolemiaFamilial hypercholesterolemia, or FH, is an inherited condition where the liver cannot clear cholesterol from the blood properly. Levels are very high from birth. published in Nature Reviews, Lancet, and the European Heart Journal. [9] The sibling risk data comes from landmark studies in Circulation and JAMA Cardiology. [6] The clinical significance of early cardiac events in close relatives — and the inadequacy of standard tools in capturing that significance — is documented across decades of cardiovascular epidemiologyEpidemiology is the study of health patterns in large groups of people — who gets sick, where, and what they had in common.. [10]

This is not an algorithm someone built in a weekend. It is an evidence-informed framework developed by a researcher who has spent years studying inherited cardiac risk and translating that research into something accessible to the people who need it most.

Why This Matters Right Now

Heart disease remains the number one cause of death in the United States. [11] Roughly half of all Americans have a family history of cardiac events. [12] And yet the tools available to most people for understanding their inherited risk remain remarkably primitive — a checkbox on an intake form, a Framingham score that was never designed to capture genetic loading, [5] and a calcium scan that may miss the most dangerous plaque entirely in younger, gene-dosed individuals. [7], [10]

For a 20-year-old whose sibling died of sudden cardiac death at 38, the Framingham Risk Score will often return a ten-year risk of under one percent — because the formula is driven by chronological age, not inherited biology. [5] That person is not low risk. They may be in the highest risk category of all. And without a tool that captures the inherited signal in their family history, they will never know to ask the right questions until it is too late.

The Heart Risk app exists for that person. It exists for everyone who has sat in a doctor’s office and said “yes, there’s heart disease in my family” and watched that information disappear into a checkbox that changes nothing about their care.

Download It Today

The Heart Risk Calculator app is available now on Google Play for $4.99. It is an educational tool, not a medical device, and it does not replace clinical evaluation. But it may be the most important five dollars you spend on your heart health — not because it monitors your pulse, but because it finally asks the question that wearables and standard calculators have never been designed to answer.

Your family history is data. It’s time to use it.

Download Now

This tool is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions. Research by Peter Megdal, PhD — CuringHeartDisease.com

References

1. D’Agostino RB Sr, Vasan RS, Pencina MJ, et al. General cardiovascular risk profile for use in primary care: the Framingham Heart Study. Circulation. 2008;117(6):743-753. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.699579
2. Virani SS, Alonso A, Aparicio HJ, et al. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics-2021 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2021;143(8):e254-e743. doi:10.1161/CIR.0000000000000950
3. Nordestgaard BG, Chapman MJ, Humphries SE, et al. Familial hypercholesterolaemia is underdiagnosed and undertreated in the general population: guidance for clinicians to prevent coronary heart disease: consensus statement of the European Atherosclerosis Society. Eur Heart J. 2013;34(45):3478-90a. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/eht273
4. Ference BA, Ginsberg HN, Graham I, et al. Low-density lipoproteins cause atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. 1. Evidence from genetic, epidemiologic, and clinical studies. A consensus statement from the European Atherosclerosis Society Consensus Panel. Eur Heart J. 2017;38(32):2459-2472. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehx144
5. D’Agostino RB Sr, Vasan RS, Pencina MJ, et al. General cardiovascular risk profile for use in primary care: the Framingham Heart Study. Circulation. 2008;117(6):743-753. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.699579
6. Nasir K, Michos ED, Rumberger JA, et al. Coronary artery calcification and family history of premature coronary heart disease: sibling history is more strongly associated than parental history. Circulation. 2004;110(15):2150-2156. doi:10.1161/01.CIR.0000144464.11080.14
7. Villines TC, Hulten EA, Shaw LJ, et al. Prevalence and severity of coronary artery disease and adverse events among symptomatic patients with coronary artery calcification scores of zero undergoing coronary computed tomography angiography: results from the CONFIRM (Coronary CT Angiography Evaluation for Clinical Outcomes: An International Multicenter) registry. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2011;58(24):2533-2540. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2011.10.851
8. Nerlekar N, Vasanthakumar SA, Whitmore K, et al. Effects of Combining Coronary Calcium Score With Treatment on Plaque Progression in Familial Coronary Artery Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2025;333(16):1403-1412. doi:10.1001/jama.2025.0584
9. Nordestgaard BG, Chapman MJ, Humphries SE, et al. Familial hypercholesterolaemia is underdiagnosed and undertreated in the general population: guidance for clinicians to prevent coronary heart disease: consensus statement of the European Atherosclerosis Society. Eur Heart J. 2013;34(45):3478-90a. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/eht273
10. Arnett DK, Blumenthal RS, Albert MA, et al. 2019 ACC/AHA Guideline on the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines. Circulation. 2019;140(11):e596-e646. doi:10.1161/CIR.0000000000000678
11. Martin SS, Aday AW, Allen NB, et al. 2025 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics: A Report of US and Global Data From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2025;151(8):e41-e660. doi:10.1161/CIR.0000000000001303
12. Moonesinghe R, Yang Q, Zhang Z, Khoury MJ. Prevalence and Cardiovascular Health Impact of Family History of Premature Heart Disease in the United States: Analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2007-2014. J Am Heart Assoc. 2019;8(14):e012364. doi:10.1161/JAHA.119.012364