The American Heart Association (AHA) along with the American College of Cardiology have formulated new cholesterol screening guidelines that advise doctors to begin screening and treating people for potential cardiovascular disease in their 30s.

The updated guidelines were published in Circulation and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and emphasized that heart disease prevention must begin earlier.

According to NBC News, doctors are also now advised to use the new PREVENT calculator that calculates the risk for developing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, a type of heart disease caused by plaque buildup in the arteries. The new assessment tool takes into account body mass index, cholesterol levels and tobacco use and outlines both the 10-year and lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease based on the calculations.

The updated guidelines pay close attention to LDL levels in the blood. Low-density lipoproteins are one of the “strongest predictors of whether or not you’re going to have a heart-related event,” says cardiologist Dr. Steven Nissen. The guidelines recommend using statins, a type of medication designed to lower cholesterol, for adults aged 30 and older whose LDL levels are 160 milligrams per deciliter or higher.

The new guidelines are more aggressive than the previous 2018 guidelines in treating patients with elevated LDL levels and Nissen is pleased with the recommendations. “What they’re saying is, don’t rule out treating somebody who’s only got a 3% 10-year risk if their lifetime risk if high,” he explains.

The new guidelines are even more specific for people who have risk factors for heart disease. In those instances, doctors now aim for LDL  levels of below 100 mg/dL. And for those at very high risk, that number falls below 55 mg/dL.

Cardiologists now recommend testing for apolipoprotein B (apoB) levels as another critical biomarker to predict and prevent heart disease.

Apolipoprotein B (apoB) is a protein found on the surface of certain lipoproteins, including LDL, that helps transport cholesterol and other fats through the bloodstream. It is considered a key marker for cardiovascular risk because each LDL particle contains one apoB molecule, making apoB a direct measure of the number of potentially harmful particles circulating in the blood. Elevated levels of apoB are associated with an increased risk for heart disease.

Another change is the suggestion that everyone gets tested at least once for lipoprotein(a) or Lp(a), a type of cholesterol that affects 64 million people in the U.S. People with high levels are at an extremely high risk of cholesterol buildup in their arteries.

The guidelines recommend that people get tested for calcium buildup in their coronary arteries. This recommendation is aimed at men over the age of 40 and women over the age of 45 who have borderline or intermediate risk of heart attack or stroke.

The underlying causes of heart disease remain the same -- high cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and obesity. The AHA estimates that as much as 80% of heart disease and strokes are preventable by lifestyle changes.

But the guidelines recommend earlier intervention.