Selected orga- nizations and professional societies with related interests and expertise are invited to participate as partners or collaborators. The Task Force makes every effort to avoid actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that might arise through relationships with industry or other entities (RWI). All writing committee members and reviewers are required to fully disclose current industry relationships or personal interests, beginning 12 months before initiation of the writing effort. Management of RWI involves selecting a balanced writing committee and re- quires that both the chair and a majority of writing com- mittee members have no relevant RWI (see Appendix 1 for the definition of relevance). Members are restricted with regard to writing or voting on sections to which RWI apply. Members of the writing committee who recused themselves from voting are indicated and specific section recusals are noted in Appendix 1. In addition, for transpar- ency, members comprehensive disclosure information is available as an Online Supplement, and reviewers RWI disclosures are included in Appendix 2. Comprehensive disclosure information for the Task Force is also avail- able at http://www.acc.org/guidelines/about-guidelines- and-clinical-documents/guidelines-and-documents-task- forces. The Task Force strives to avoid bias by selecting experts from a broad array of backgrounds representing different geographic regions, genders, ethnicities, intel- lectual perspectives, and scopes of clinical activities. Intended Use Guidelines provide recommendations applicable to pa- tients with or at risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The focus is on medical practice in the United States, but guidelines developed in collaboration with other organiza- tions may have a broader target. Although guidelines may Yancy et al be used to inform regulatory or payer decisions, the intent is to improve quality of care and align with patients inter- ests. The guidelines are reviewed annually by the Task Force and are official policy of the ACC and AHA. 