The team has developed QRisk2, an equation that would help doctors identify those most at risk of developing CVD for the first time, simultaneously taking into account extra risk from ethnicity, social deprivation and other clinical conditions such as family history of heart disease or diabetes.

This would help in targeting patients with preventative measures such as lifestyle advice and cholesterol-lowering treatments.

The study undertaken by the University of Nottingham, leading primary care systems supplier, EMIS, Universities of Edinburg, Queen Mary's and from Bristol and Medway Primary Care Trusts revealed that certain ethnic groups were at a much greater risk of developing CVD than the general population.

It showed that Pakistani men were nearly twice as likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke, while Bangladeshi men had 70 per cent increased risk of CVD.

QRisk2 also indicated that Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women's risk of CVD was 43 per cent, 80 per cent and 35 per cent higher, respectively,

"Based on the study of 15 years of data from over 2 million UK patients, QRisk2 is a contemporary and specific risk score that allows CVD risk to be personalised to the individual patient," BMJ quoted Professor Julia Hippisley-Cox of The University of Nottingham, as saying.