The effects of infographics and several quantitative versus qualitative formats for cardiovascular disease risk, including heart age, on people's risk understanding.

Objective: To study how comprehension of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk is influenced by: (1) infographics about qualitative risk information, with/without risk numbers; (2) which qualitative risk dimension is emphasized; (3) heart age vs. traditional risk format.

Methods: For aim 1, a 2 (infographics versus text) x 2 (risk number versus no risk number) between-subjects design was used.

How lay people understand and make sense of personalized disease risk information.

Background: Disease risk calculators are increasingly web-based, but previous studies have shown that risk information often poses problems for lay users.

Objective: To examine how lay people understand the result derived from an online cardiometabolic risk calculator.

Design: A qualitative study was performed, using the risk calculator in the Dutch National Prevention Program for cardiometabolic diseases.