Relearning life after a heart attack: How patients are shaping their recovery
Through JACARDI´s AMIGA (Acute Myocardial Infarction Guidance and Adherence) pilot project, patients, clinicians, and researchers at Hospital 12 de Octubre in Madrid (Spain) and the Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) are co-creating a mobile app to support life after a heart attack, turning uncertainty into guidance, and recovery into a shared journey.
When María Eugenia left the hospital after her heart attack, she didn’t just carry a discharge report, she carried uncertainty. “This session felt timely and necessary for patients who leave the hospital feeling a bit lost or overwhelmed”, she says, speaking about one of the recent co-design sessions organised within the AMIGA pilot project at Hospital 12 de Octubre in Madrid (Spain).
AMIGA is part of JACARDI’s Work Package on patients’ self-management. Led by Hospital 12 de Octubre and the Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC), it focuses on improving self-management after a heart attack through a co-designed mobile application.
María Eugenia’s words capture a moment that many patients will recognize: the transition from hospital to home, when clinical care gives way to self-care and questions often outnumber answers. It is precisely in this vulnerable period where the project aims to make a difference.
The initiative is led by Dr Héctor Bueno, cardiologist and scientific director of the Cardiovascular Research Area at the i+12 Research Institute, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, in Madrid; leader of the JACARDI working group on data availability and quality; and leader of a research group at CNIC.
A digital companion for life after a heart attack
The AMIGA pilot is developing a mobile application designed to support people recovering from a heart attack. Grounded in principles of positive psychology, the app aims to enhance therapeutic adherence and empower patients in their day-to-day self-care.
Fifteen participants, most aged between 70 and 75, took part in individual sessions simulating the real patient journey: from recruitment into the program to hands-on interaction with the app. Among them, one participant stood out as a powerful reflection of the project’s ambition: a 95-year-old woman who became one of its key advisors.
Behind this pilot lies a broader vision. Managing cardiovascular disease and diabetes depends not only on what happens inside hospitals, but largely on what patients are enabled to do in their everyday lives.
JACARDI’s Work Package on patients’ self-management focuses precisely on strengthening that capacity. Its pilot projects explore how patients can be better supported to adopt healthier lifestyles, monitor their symptoms, follow treatments correctly, and communicate more effectively with healthcare professionals, especially nurses, who play a vital role in this project. Equally important, they address something less visible but not less critical: how people cope with the emotional and practical challenges of living with a chronic condition.
When patients are equipped and confident to manage their health, outcomes improve, not only in terms of quality of life, but also through reduced avoidable complications and lower pressure on health systems.
Listening before building
These sessions were not only about testing technology; they were about understanding people, how they think, what they need and where they struggle. As Dr Bueno explains, this approach is not just desirable, it is essential:
“Many digital health solutions are developed without direct patient involvement, often resulting in low usage and adherence rates. In addition, given that the typical profile of these patients tends to be older, designing a digital tool that is accessible to individuals with potentially low digital literacy presents an additional challenge,” explains Dr Bueno.
The AMIGA project places patients at the centre of the design process, shaping everything from language and tone to usability and content.
Building together
The sessions were enriched by the involvement of ASECOR, the Association of Cardiac Patients at Hospital 12 de Octubre, bringing lived experience and a strong sense of community into the process.
As Antonio Sánchez, President of ASECOR, highlights, “it’s important not only to give visibility to these diseases, but also to raise awareness through the experiences of the patients participating in the project.” That perspective is grounded in long-standing collaboration with the hospital, which Carlos Quijorna, Treasurer of ASECOR, describes as “contributing our grain of sand.”
Ultimately, the value of the initiative lies in something deeply human: reducing the sense of isolation many patients feel after discharge. As Luis Álvarez, Secretary of ASECOR, puts it, “this application helps patients who, until now, often felt alone. With this, they feel more supported and can consult about their own condition.”
Co-design as a path to impact
These sessions are part of an ongoing process involving patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, researchers, and technology experts. Each conversation, each piece of feedback, helps transform the app into something more than a digital tool, it becomes a reflection of real needs, real concerns, and real lives.
For the JACARDI pilot, this approach maximizes the likelihood of real-world impact. For participants, it offers something equally valuable: the chance to shape a solution that could improve the lives of future patients.
And for people like María Eugenia, it turns a moment of uncertainty into one of purpose.
Making patient experience count: Finland’s JACARDI pilot brings patient voices into diabetes care
Led by the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), this pilot is coordinated by Professor Tomi Mäki-Opas, together with study coordinators Sonja Julkunen and Katja Soininen, and focuses on the digital collection of Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in diabetes care.
How do people with diabetes actually feel in their everyday lives, beyond clinical indicators and laboratory results?
That is the question behind one of JACARDI’s most forward-looking data pilots. Led by the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) within JACARDI’s Work Package on Data, the pilot explores how digital tools can be used to collect PROMs from people living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes receiving specialised care.
The initiative focuses on the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire, an internationally recognised PROM tool that captures dimensions such as mobility, pain, anxiety and daily functioning. But the ambition goes far beyond digital surveys.
The pilot aims to understand how patient-reported outcomes can support value-based healthcare and help healthcare professionals see a more complete picture of diabetes management.
“We now have the first real-world experience of integrating digital PROM collection into routine diabetes care,” explains study coordinator Sonja Julkunen.
Turning patient-reported outcomes into everyday care
The digital data collection officially started in February 2026 at the endocrinology outpatient clinic of the Wellbeing Services County of North Savo in Finland. Since then, the project team has already gathered important operational insights and encouraging early participation figures.
During the first 11 weeks, 545 patients were targeted for the baseline questionnaire. Among patients who received digital notifications, nearly half completed the questionnaire, and more than 70% of all responses were collected digitally.
Behind these numbers lies a carefully designed digital pathway. Patients receive text message reminders before their appointments and complete the questionnaire through the OmaSavo Plus platform using strong digital identification. The information is then transferred into a data lake and made accessible to healthcare professionals through a platform connected to electronic health records.
The experience has also highlighted the real-world challenges of digital innovation in healthcare.
Since the questionnaire follows strict digital representation guidelines, the team developed a custom-built form solution when existing systems could not adequately display the questionnaire format. Tight clinical schedules also make it difficult for doctors and nurses to systematically review responses during appointments.
Yet the pilot is already showing added value in patient interaction.
Healthcare professionals reported that the questionnaire can help initiate conversations, particularly with younger adults who may not spontaneously discuss wellbeing or mental health concerns during consultations. In some cases, nurses were able to identify issues in advance and alert physicians before appointments.
The project has also invested heavily in communication and patient engagement. Information campaigns were launched through social media, press releases, posters in clinics and collaboration with diabetes patient organisations — demonstrating that successful digital health innovation depends as much on communication as on technology.
From Finnish implementation to European learning
The pilot arrives at a particularly important moment for Finland’s healthcare system. The Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has designated the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire as the national generic PROM measure, with diabetes among the first target areas for implementation.
This means that the experience gathered through JACARDI’s pilot informed a broader national expansion of PROM data collection into primary healthcare and specialised diabetes services across Finland.
The pilot team will continue refining the system in the coming months, testing new approaches to improve response rates and strengthen value-based analysis.
Ultimately, digital healthcare transformation is not only about collecting more data, but about making patient experiences visible, actionable and impossible to ignore.
This is exactly where JACARDI’s Work Package on Data comes in: building the foundations for more accurate, comparable and patient-centred data on cardiovascular disease and diabetes across Europe. This pilot from the UEF is one step in that direction, turning patient-reported outcomes into real-world evidence that can help close gaps, highlight inequalities, and support better-informed healthcare decisions.
Building the path beyond research: DigiCare4You workshop focuses on scale-up
The final DigiCare4You dissemination workshop brought together European stakeholders in Brussels to discuss the project’s results and future implementation.
The transition from research to real-world implementation took centre stage at the second Capacity Building and Recommendations Development Workshop organised by DigiCare4You, a Horizon 2020 project, held recently in Brussels.
The Horizon2020-funded DigiCare4You project offers a new model for the early prevention and management of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and hypertension (HTN) by engaging schools, communities and healthcare systems in an intersectoral approach. At its core, the project empowers families and connects health and education sectors, equipping individuals with digital tools to better manage their health. Building on the evidence-based Feel4Diabetes study, DigiCare4You is being implemented in two high-income countries (Greece and Spain) and two middle-income countries (Albania and Bulgaria), targeting more than 10,000 families across different socio-economic groups.
Bringing together policymakers, researchers and health professionals from across Europe, the event marked the project’s final in-person dissemination meeting after more than five years of collaboration. Participants reviewed the programme’s implementation across four pilot countries and discussed the outcomes of its two-year intervention, including impact evaluation and health economic analysis.
The findings presented during the workshop were particularly encouraging in terms of cost-effectiveness, reinforcing the potential of DigiCare4You as a scalable and sustainable solution to strengthen primary care systems and support people at risk of type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
A delegation from JACARDI took part in the discussions, including Dr Sarah Cuschieri, member of JACARDI’s Scientific Advisory Board; Sabine Dupont, member of the project’s Stakeholder Board, Fátima Lois, member of the communication and dissemination team; and colleagues Sandro Girolami, and Rogerio Ribeiro, both involved in pilot interventions.
“It was a fruitful and engaging workshop, with exciting discussions and promising results emerging from this collaboration,” said Dr Sarah Cuschieri. “The roadmap currently being developed will no doubt contribute to strengthening digital health and integrated care approaches across Europe.”
“The session offered a rich and comprehensive overview of the project, from implementation across four countries to impact and economic evaluation,” added Fátima Lois. “Particularly encouraging were the cost-effectiveness results, which highlight the real potential for scale.”
A central focus of the workshop was the DigiCare4You Roadmap for Scale-Up, designed to support the transfer of the project’s solutions beyond the initial pilot countries. Stakeholders engaged in a dynamic exchange on how to translate the project’s evidence and lessons learned into practical recommendations for implementation in new national contexts.
Beyond the project results themselves, the workshop also highlighted the value of collaboration and knowledge exchange between European initiatives such as DigiCare4You and JACARDI. By sharing expertise, evidence and implementation experiences, both projects contribute to advancing innovative and integrated approaches to chronic disease prevention across Europe.
As DigiCare4You enters its final phase, the project leaves behind not only valuable evidence and lessons learned, but also a practical roadmap to support the future transfer and scale-up of its solutions in new healthcare settings.
Visit our website for further insights into their early results and experiences midway through the implementation journey back in 2025.
You can learn more about DigiCare4You and their final results on the project website.
The geography of heart health: Why cardiovascular mortality still depends on where you live in Europe
Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the European Union. Yet the risk of dying from it can vary dramatically depending on where people live, reflecting persistent inequalities in prevention, healthcare systems, and public health policies. The Safe Hearts Plan, unveiled by the European Commission on 16 December 2025, as part of an overall health package, offers a chance to close these gaps and advance a shared vision of longer, healthier lives for all Europeans.
What if your country of residence could triple your risk of dying from heart disease?
This reality is one of the key challenges addressed by the EU Safe Hearts Plan, which places a strong focus on geographical inequalities in cardiovascular health across the European Union. The Plan highlights that cardiovascular death rates can be more than six times higher in some Member States than in others, alongside major differences in access to high-quality care and health outcomes.
Across the region, cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death, yet outcomes vary dramatically between countries. In Bulgaria, for example, the risk of dying from CVD is nearly three times higher than in Denmark, a gap driven not by biology but by differences in prevention, access to care and public health policies. [1]
As Dr Benedetta Armocida, coordinator of JACARDI, explains: “These disparities remind us that cardiovascular health is shaped not only by medical care, but also by the broader social, economic and environmental conditions in which people live.
Addressing them therefore requires a strong and sustained public health approach, one that prioritises prevention, strengthens health systems, and promotes equity in access to effective care and healthier environments. The Safe Hearts Plan offers an important opportunity to reinforce collaboration across countries and sectors, supporting a shared vision for Europe where progress in cardiovascular health benefits all communities and contributes to longer, healthier lives for everyone.”
Progress, but not equally shared
Europe has made significant progress in reducing deaths from CVD over the past decades thanks to advances in treatment and prevention. Yet these gains have not been evenly distributed across the region.
In 2021, CVD still accounted for nearly 28% of deaths in Western Europe, with age-standardised mortality rates of around 107 deaths per 100,000 people. Behind these averages lie stark national differences in risk factors, healthcare systems and prevention policies. [2]
Some countries have demonstrated what is possible when prevention becomes a policy priority. Finland, for example, achieved an 82% reduction in cardiovascular mortality among working-age men between 1972 and 2012 through the North Karelia Project, a pioneering initiative that targeted smoking, cholesterol levels and blood pressure at the community level. The programme demonstrated how sustained prevention policies can dramatically improve cardiovascular health. [3]
Today, similar efforts continue. In Finland, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) is leading a pilot project within JACARDI’s work on screening high-risk populations. The project evaluates how well cardiovascular risk scores predict 10-year CVD risk among migrant populations of Russian, Somali and Kurdish origin, and explores whether recalibrating these tools could improve prevention strategies for diverse populations.
This is just one example among 143 pilot actions implemented across Europe under JACARDI, reflecting a wide geographical diversity and a broad range of health system contexts and target groups. By sharing knowledge and experience across countries, these initiatives help build a stronger evidence base and support the development of more effective and equitable cardiovascular prevention strategies.
Risk factors that still shape Europe’s heart health
Where people live can have a profound impact on their cardiovascular health, a phenomenon often referred to as the “postcode effect”. Beyond individual lifestyle choices or genetic predisposition, factors such as income, education, living conditions, access to healthcare, environmental exposure and local prevention policies all play a crucial role in shaping cardiovascular risk.
Recent evidence highlights how these factors translate into measurable health outcomes. A 2024 study published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, analysing 24 Western European countries, found strong associations between cardiovascular mortality and factors such as smoking prevalence and exposure to air pollution. Environmental policies can have a measurable impact: between 2010 and 2019, Europe saw a 19% reduction in heart-disease deaths linked to improvements in air quality. [2]
Despite this progress, many European countries continue to exceed the air pollution thresholds recommended by the World Health Organization. Prevention strategies, including screening programmes and health literacy initiatives, also vary widely between countries. These differences contribute significantly to the persistent cardiovascular health gap across Europe.
The cost of inaction
Beyond the human toll, CVDs impose a significant economic burden, with CVD-related expenditures averaging 630 euros per person in the EU in 2021. As Borjana Pervan, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy CEO of the World Heart Federation, explains:
“In today’s Europe, like elsewhere in the world, where you live still defines your cardiovascular risk. The differences across EU member states are neither genetic nor inevitable but result from gaps in prevention, access to care, and political will. We know what works to close these divides. What’s missing is the sustained commitment to apply it, everywhere, for everyone.”
She adds: “Failure to act comes at a cost: CVD already drains over €280 billion from Europe’s economy every year. With the Safe Hearts Plan now in place, the priority must be to ensure that knowledge is matched by policies and translated into action across all Member States.”
Bridging Europe’s cardiovascular divide
The persistence of these inequalities is one of the key reasons why the European Commission launched the Safe Hearts Plan, aimed at strengthening cardiovascular prevention and care across the EU. Evidence suggests that many disparities in cardiovascular outcomes are avoidable.
According to the JACARDI Context Analysis, differences in cardiovascular health across Europe are closely linked to variations in prevention policies, healthcare system capacity and the implementation of effective cardiovascular health strategies. The analysis also shows that only around half of the EU countries examined have national strategies for cardiovascular screening or health literacy, highlighting the need for stronger and more consistent public health measures.
As the EU moves forward with the Safe Hearts Plan, initiatives like JACARDI play a key role in turning ambition into action. By providing expert guidance, practical experience, and answering to the European Commission’s Call for Evidence, this joint action helps inform initiatives such as the upcoming EU protocol on health checks. Its cross-border collaboration also demonstrates how evidence-based policies and coordinated action can help reduce cardiovascular inequalities and move closer to a shared goal: longer, healthier lives for people across Europe.
With work advancing across all stages of the patient journey, JACARDI is generating valuable evidence across a wide range of contexts and populations. Looking ahead, 2027 will be a key milestone to bring this evidence to 21 countries and help shape national cardiovascular health plans and local policies. By translating and integrating this knowledge across the region, the initiative aims to reduce geographic disparities in prevention, access to care and policy implementation, ensuring that everyone, regardless of where they live, can benefit.
This work aligns with flagship actions under the Plan, such as “EU cares for your heart”, which aim to strengthen national cardiovascular health plans and translate prevention into practice. By sharing and scaling evidence across countries, JACARDI contributes to reducing disparities and improving cardiovascular health outcomes across Europe.
About this series
This article is part of the “Following the Safe Hearts Plan: JACARDI Insights Series”, developed by JACARDI.
The series explores how the EU Safe Hearts Plan, launched by the European Commission on 16 December 2025, is being translated into practice across Europe, highlighting evidence, policy developments and real-world implementation experiences from different health systems.
Through collaboration with a wide range of partners across Europe, including international organisations, patient associations, other European Joint Actions, and global public health bodies, the series aims to unpack how cardiovascular health policies can be translated into concrete action, bridging research, prevention strategies and health system implementation. It also features insights from across the JACARDI community, from the Coordination team and Work Package leaders to pilot voices and implementation experts working directly on the ground.
By combining data, expert perspectives and country-level examples, the series supports a shared understanding of how Europe can reduce cardiovascular inequalities and improve health outcomes for all citizens.
Sources:
[1] Nick Townsend, Melanie Nichols, Peter Scarborough, Mike Rayner, Cardiovascular disease in Europe — epidemiological update 2015, European Heart Journal, Volume 36, Issue 40, 21 October 2015, Pages 2696–2705
[2] Mubarik S, Naeem S, Shen H, Mubarak R, Luo L, Hussain S, Hak E, Yu C, Liu X. Population-Level Distribution, Risk Factors, and Burden of Mortality and Disability-Adjusted Life Years Attributable to Major Noncommunicable Diseases in Western Europe (1990-2021): Ecological Analysis. JMIR Public Health Surveill 2024;10:e57840
[3] Puska P, Jaini P. The North Karelia Project: Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Finland Through Population-Based Lifestyle Interventions. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2020 Mar 19;14(5):495-499. doi: 10.1177/1559827620910981. PMID: 32922234; PMCID: PMC7444010.
[4] WHF welcomes the first EU Cardiovascular Health Plan
Diabetes Data Cell: From fragmented data to a national policy tool
Fragmentation of diabetes data poses several challenges across member states. Tackling this issue is a key step towards transforming fragmented diabetes data sets into actionable evidence for smarter health policy. Within JACARDI’s Work Package on Data, the Diabetes Data Cell Project is being developed by Sciensano. The Belgian institute for public health aims to address this question in an effort to optimise patient and healthcare data alignment. The project has recently reached a major milestone: approval by the Belgian Data Protection Authority to link individual-level primary care and specialist clinical datasets with national administrative data on reimbursed healthcare use.
A first data flow covering 2017-2024 has already been completed, resulting in a linked dataset of 76,965 unique individuals living with diabetes across care settings in Belgium. The full governance framework, including legal approvals and secure linkage procedures, has been established and was submitted in December 2025 for publication to BMC Public Health journal. “This marks a crucial step toward building Belgium’s first comprehensive national diabetes dataset,” explain the authors, Astrid Lavens, senior researcher and pilot project coordinator, Kalina Todorova, junior researcher, and Margot Buyle, senior researcher.
What makes this initiative truly unique is how people living with diabetes are identified. Rather than relying on proxy indicators such as therapy use or reimbursement codes, individuals are selected based on the clinical diagnosis recorded in the electronic patient records by their healthcare provider. This ensures a far more accurate and clinically meaningful population definition, a strong foundation for robust real-world evidence.
Primary analyses have already generated valuable insights, such as mapping the overlap between primary and specialist clinical databases and identifying how patients move across levels of care. “For the first time, we can follow individuals across the healthcare system and connect clinical information with data on healthcare utilization and reimbursement,” explain the members of this pilot.
The next phase brings together three institutions: Sciensano, KU Leuven and the Intermutualistic Agency (IMA); each contributing complementary expertise in clinical epidemiology, health services research, and administrative data analysis. By combining these strengths, the consortium – together with the Belgian Diabetes Forum (BEDF) – will transform this linked dataset into a powerful tool for evaluating care quality, treatment patterns, patient pathways, outcomes, and costs.
The Diabetes Data Cell is more than a technical exercise in data linkage. It is a concrete step toward evidence-informed diabetes policy, supporting better planning, improved quality of care, and more efficient resource allocation. By turning routinely collected data into integrated, policy-relevant evidence, this project demonstrates how collaboration within JACARDI can directly strengthen chronic disease monitoring and decision-making at national level, with potential lessons for other countries and other non-communicable diseases.
Cardiovascular health in focus: new OECD report and JACARDI experts highlight the path from data to implementation
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) still causes around 1.7 million deaths every year in the European Union. It remains a leading cause of mortality, although most of this burden is preventable. That was the key message of the OECD webinar on 10 February presenting the new EU-funded report ‘State of Cardiovascular Health in the European Union’, which also introduced new monitoring tools and highlighted how the EU Safe Hearts Plan can be translated into practical action, with JACARDI playing an active implementation role.
The webinar, moderated by Francesca Colombo, Head of the Health Division at the OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, brought together more than 300 participants from EU institutions, national authorities, research, clinical practice and patient organisations.
Opening the event, Antonio Parenti from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety warned that progress in reducing cardiovascular deaths has slowed across Europe. Without stronger prevention and earlier intervention, the overall burden could grow substantially. The recently launched EU Safe Hearts Plan is designed to support Member States in strengthening national plans across prevention, screening, treatment and rehabilitation, with particular attention to vulnerable groups and inequalities in access to care.
New OECD data presented during the webinar show that over three-quarters of cardiovascular deaths in the EU are linked to modifiable risk factors, and trends are worsening in several areas. Around 22% of EU residents live with hypertension, 15% with obesity and 8% with diabetes, while psychosocial risks such as stress, depression and sleep problems affect roughly one third of the population.
Important screening gaps persist: in the 45–54 age group, nearly three in ten adults have not had their blood pressure checked in the past year, and many have gone five years without testing blood sugar or cholesterol. Speakers stressed that screening only improves outcomes when it is followed by timely diagnosis, treatment and long-term patient support.
From the patient perspective, the panel highlighted that delays and fragmentation in diagnosis and care pathways remain a major barrier to better cardiovascular outcomes. Konstantina Boumaki, Board Member of the European Patients’ Forum, warned that late diagnosis and long waiting times not only worsen prognosis but also erode patient trust in the system. She stressed that reducing inequalities is not about delivering identical care to everyone, but about ensuring that all patients can truly access timely diagnosis, treatment and support; a principle that should guide how national cardiovascular plans are designed and implemented.
Alongside the report, the OECD and the European Commission launched a new Cardiovascular Health Dashboard, an online platform that allows policymakers, researchers and the public to track risk factors, care quality and patient pathways across EU countries.
From measurement to implementation
The discussion focused on a recurring weak point in public health policy: implementation. While the evidence on cardiovascular prevention and care is strong, most strategies fail in execution, noted Dr Héctor Bueno, co-leader of JACARDI’s Work Package on data and scientific coordinator of the Cardiovascular Health Strategy of Spain’s National Health System. The key is a clear vision, participation of patients and citizens, as well as political ownership.
Plans only deliver results when they are operational, measurable and realistic, stressed Dr Bueno. Measurement “is essential for visibility and accountability: without indicators, progress cannot be tracked”.
He described how the Spanish strategy is built on a broad indicator framework covering prevention, primary care, acute and chronic care, gender aspects and education, supported by a core set of priority measures. Digital integration, interoperable registries and automated data systems are critical to make monitoring sustainable. Dr Bueno also underlined that aligning scientific evidence, political commitment and citizen engagement is as important as funding when moving from strategy to practice.
JACARDI’s cross-sector contribution to the Safe Hearts Plan
Dr Benedetta Armocida, coordinator of JACARDI, highlighted how the joint action supports the Safe Hearts Plan through cross-sector and patient-journey approaches that connect health literacy, risk awareness, screening and prevention with long-term care pathways. “Cardiovascular prevention is not only a health system responsibility but a societal one, requiring coordinated action across sectors,” Dr Armocida noted, reflecting a Health in All Policies approach.
JACARDI pilots already include early-life interventions to improve children’s understanding of cardiovascular risk and workplace-focused prevention models, alongside broader work on food literacy, healthy environments and equitable access. Digital health and AI tools can accelerate impact, she added, “but only if they are properly integrated into routine care, trusted by users and supported through professional training”.
The overall conclusion was clear: Europe now has stronger data, shared metrics and a dedicated policy framework through the Safe Hearts Plan. With its indicator frameworks, cross-sector pilots and implementation focus, JACARDI is helping to transform evidence and ambition into tangible improvements in cardiovascular health.
References:
OECD (2025), The State of Cardiovascular Health in the European Union, OECD Publishing, Paris
EU Safe Hearts Plan (pdf)
The State of Cardiovascular Health in Europe Dashboard, OECD
The Cardiovascular Health Strategy (CVHS) of Spain’s National Health System, Ministry of Health, Spain (pdf)
How JACARDI can support the implementation of the EU Safe Hearts Plan
Benedetta Armocida, coordinator of JACARDI, presented the Joint Action’s role in shaping screening and early detection approaches under the Safe Hearts Plan, during a dedicated webinar organized by the European Commission.
On 15 January 2026, the European Commission hosted the first stakeholder webinar dedicated to the Safe Hearts Plan, the EU’s first-ever cardiovascular health plan, adopted on 16 December 2025. The online event brought together nearly 500 stakeholders from across Europe and provided a key platform to exchange views on how to support the implementation of the Plan and its flagship initiatives [1].
The webinar [2] marked an important milestone in the roll-out of the Safe Hearts Plan, which aims to tackle cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), the leading cause of mortality in the European Union, through coordinated action on prevention, early detection and screening, and treatment, care and rehabilitation, while addressing cross-cutting challenges such as data and digitalisation, research and innovation, and health inequalities.
Opening the meeting, Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, Olivér Várhelyi, underlined the urgency of action and the importance of collaboration with stakeholders to turn the Plan into concrete results.
“Cardiovascular diseases remain Europe’s number one killer, placing a growing burden on our health systems, societies and economies. With the Safe Hearts Plan, we now have a strong policy tool at EU level, but its success will depend on close cooperation with Member States and stakeholders to make it a reality,” said Commissioner Várhelyi.
Supporting early detection and screening
During the webinar, the coordinators of key Joint Actions, JACARDI and JA PreventNCD, presented how their work contributes to the implementation of the Safe Hearts Plan. Dr Benedetta Armocida, coordinator of JACARDI, highlighted the Joint Action’s strong alignment with Pillar 2 of the Plan: early detection and screening, including the flagship initiative on an EU Protocol on Health Checks for CVDs.
JACARDI brings together 21 countries and 81 partners, working to translate EU priorities into concrete, country-level implementation. In particular, Work Package 8 on screening high-risk populations, led by Hanna Tolonen and Luigi Palmieri, is developing common protocols and tools to support Member States in the design, organisation and sustainability of effective screening programmes.
“We are testing and implementing practical solutions that can support the Safe Hearts Plan on the ground. Our pilot projects on early detection and screening aim to generate evidence and tools that help Member States reach high-risk populations, while embedding equity and sustainability across all activities. The aim is to provide further evidence and the result of our pilots to support the implementation of the European plan,” said Dr Armocida.
In practice, JACARDI is implementing 19 pilot projects focused on screening for CVDs and diabetes across different European countries, assessing the feasibility of diverse screening approaches. The Joint Action has also developed an online risk assessment tool selection guide, supporting professionals in selecting appropriate risk prediction methods.
Addressing inequalities is a core priority for JACARDI, fully aligned with the Safe Hearts Plan. Across its 143 pilot projects, the Joint Action promotes equity and diversity, targeting both the general population and high-risk groups, with a focus on integrated care pathways, self-management and social participation.
The webinar also showcased the strong alignment between the Safe Hearts Plan and other EU initiatives. Knut Jønsrud, project manager of JA PreventNCD, emphasised the importance of addressing key risk factors and reducing social inequalities through a life-course approach.
“Several flagship initiatives of the Safe Hearts Plan, such as modernising tobacco control legislation and strengthening health literacy, are closely aligned with our work. A people-centred, equity-focused approach and cross-sectoral collaboration are essential to achieving lasting impact,” said Jønsrud.
A coordinated EU response
Antonio Parenti, director for Public Health, Cancer and Human Security in the Directorate General for Human and Food Security of the European Commission (DG SANTE), stressed the scale of the challenge posed by CVDs and the need for decisive, coordinated action at EU level.
“CVDs cost the EU more than €280 billion every year. Without strong and coordinated action, this burden will continue to grow, affecting future generations, health systems and economic resilience. The Safe Hearts Plan is our collective response to this challenge,” Parenti stated.
He highlighted the Plan’s three pillars and its ten flagship initiatives, designed to improve population health, foster innovation and support sustainable healthcare systems. Prevention remains a cornerstone of the Plan, as nearly 80% of CVDs can be prevented through lifestyle changes, alongside strengthened, patient-centred and multidisciplinary care [3].
Next steps
The European Commission will now collect and analyse the feedback and ideas shared by stakeholders during the webinar. A second stakeholder webinar is planned for the second half of 2026, ensuring continued dialogue as the Safe Hearts Plan moves into its implementation phase.
For JACARDI, the webinar confirmed the relevance of Joint Actions as key instruments to support EU health policies and demonstrated how collaborative, evidence-based approaches can help reduce the burden of CVDs across Europe.
[1] About the Safe Hearts Plan flagship initiatives
Adopted in December 2025, the EU Safe Hearts Plan is underpinned by ten flagship initiatives designed to deliver clear EU added value across prevention, care and innovation, while supporting Member States in addressing cardiovascular diseases in a coordinated and sustainable way:d
- A lifelong, personalised and digitally enabled prevention programme – ‘EU cares for your heart’
- Empowering consumers through information on food processing in the EU
- Modernising tobacco control legislation
- The Commission will examine which appropriate tools, including possible financial actions, could be deployed to support/fund public health actions in the field of primary prevention and stimulate food reformulation and healthier consumer choices
- Proposal for a Council recommendation on vaccination against respiratory infections as a preventive measure for cardiovascular diseases
- EU protocol on health checks for cardiovascular diseases
- Proposal for a Council recommendation on personalised treatment and monitoring of cardiovascular diseases
- Incubator for innovation and integration of AI and digital technologies in cardiovascular healthcare
- EU cardiovascular health inequalities dashboard
- Cardiovascular Disease Research and Innovation Roadmap
[2] Stakeholder Webinar the Safe Hearts Plan – Meeting documents
[3] Questions and answers on the EU Safe Hearts Plan
A defining CVH moment in Europe: The Commission announced the Safe Hearts Plan
“When Europe acts together, we do not simply improve systems, we improve lives,” points out Benedetta Armocida, Coordinator of JACARDI, as the European Union’s Cardiovascular Health Plan is launched. At a time when cardiovascular disease remains Europe’s leading cause of death, this moment marks a collective step toward strengthening heart health across the continent.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the leading cause of death and disability in Europe, as confirmed by the newly released OECD report “The State of Cardiovascular Health in the European Union“. CVD claims 1.7 million lives each year, more than cancer and diabetes combined, and affects an estimated 62 million people. CVDs also contribute significantly to disability, early retirement, and absenteeism, lower the quality of life and reduce life expectancy, according to data from the European Commission [1], [2], [3].
The total economic burden of CVD in the EU is estimated at EUR 282 billion annually, around 2% of GDP, and significantly higher than that of cancer. The OECD report highlights stark geographic, gender and socio-economic disparities in cardiovascular outcomes and access to care, reinforcing the need for coordinated EU-level action. It also acknowledges JACARDI’s input to the report, and references JACARDI’s 4C Framework and pilot actions in France and Spain.
Bearing that in mind, the European Commission’s launch of the Cardiovascular Health Plan, under the name Safe Hearts Plan, marks a decisive moment for public health in the region. JACARDI strongly welcomes this Plan, as coordinated European action is essential to reduce the number of people falling ill with cardiovascular diseases, and to prevent premature deaths for those with existing conditions or risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.
“The launch of the Cardiovascular Health Plan marks a pivotal moment for Europe’s public health. JACARDI welcomes this initiative, recognizing the crucial role of Joint Actions in fostering collaboration among countries, experts, and stakeholders. By working together, sharing knowledge, and aligning efforts, we can ensure that advances in prevention, care, and innovation in cardiovascular health truly reach all communities, leaving no one behind,” notes Prof Graziano Onder, Scientific Coordinator of JACARDI.
The Plan arrives at a critical time. For too long, CVD and diabetes have lacked the political visibility their burden demands. The CVH Plan opens the door to a new European approach that puts prevention first, strengthens early detection and screening, and promotes equity and integrated, patient-centred care across health systems. For JACARDI, this initiative is an essential step towards making the healthy choice the easy and default choice for citizens across Europe.
“The CVH Plan is a decisive step forward, and JACARDI is proud to contribute with its experience and technical expertise. Our work shows that no cardiovascular strategy can be effective without putting equity at the centre, addressing the gaps linked to income, geography, education and gender that still shape health outcomes across Europe. We look forward to supporting the implementation of a Plan that has the potential to change lives across the region”, explains Dr Benedetta Armocida, coordinator of JACARDI.
The CVH Plan is needed as fragmented efforts can no longer address challenges that are inherently interconnected. “Prevention, early detection, treatment, rehabilitation, digital innovation, community engagement, these elements only create real impact when they are aligned and mutually reinforcing”, adds Dr Armocida.
Equally important is the improvement of data collection and use, ensuring that high-quality, reliable information drives policy decisions, guides clinical practice and allows progress to be measured transparently across countries, as highlighted in a recent policy paper published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, developed jointly by the Joint Action on Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes (JACARDI), the Joint Action Prevent Non-Communicable Diseases (JA PreventNCD), and the WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe), [4].
“Robust and accessible data are essential to understand where inequalities arise, to identify people at risk earlier and to ensure timely, high-quality care across Europe. Strengthening data systems, from availability and quality to interoperability and sharing, is key to improving early detection, screening programmes and continuity of care”, says Dr Héctor Bueno, co-leader of the working group on data availability, quality, accessibility and sharing from JACARDI.
Through its multidisciplinary network, technical expertise and strong partnerships, JACARDI stands ready to support the successful rollout of the Safe Hearts Plan. The Joint Action will continue to contribute practical knowledge on prevention, governance, data systems and quality of care, building on lessons learned from other European health initiatives and aligning closely with the shared vision set out by the European cardiovascular community.
Joint Actions are more than projects, they are engines of collaboration. JACARDI can serve as a bridge between countries, stakeholders, and other EU initiatives, helping to translate the CVH Plan into coordinated, coherent, and sustainable action across Europe.
JACARDI is generating concrete insights on equity, early detection, integrated care, digital tools, data systems, and workforce capacity. These lessons, grounded in practice and validated across diverse health systems, can inform the plan’s priorities, standards, and operational frameworks. JACARDI remains fully committed to supporting the European Commission in prioritizing the Cardiovascular Health Plan and promoting its effective implementation across Member States, ensuring that every step forward translates into meaningful impact for people’s health.
The Safe Hearts Plan at a glance:
• Prioritises prevention as one of its main pillars
• Sets clear targets, including reducing mortality related to cardiovascular disease by 25% by 2035
• Encourages Member States to develop or implement national cardiovascular health plans by 2027
• Emphasises reducing health inequalities and improving access to healthcare
• Supports an EU protocol on health checks to shift the focus from treatment to prevention
• Addresses lifestyle risks, including unhealthy diets, ultra-processed foods, and smoking
Read the full European Commission Safe Hearts Plan here.
References:
[1] OECD (2025), The State of Cardiovascular Health in the European Union, OECD Publishing, Paris,
[2] Cardiovascular health; European Commission
[3] Fighting cardiovascular disease – a blueprint for EU action, June 2020. European Heart Network and the European Society of Cardiology.
[4] Benedetta Armocida, Hanna Tolonen, Ivo Rakovac, Beatrice Formenti, Jill Farrington, Allison Ekberg, Hector Bueno, Giovanni Capelli, Silvia Francisci, Morten S. Frydensberg, Ane Fullaondo, Linda Granlund, Yhasmine Hamu Azcarate, Torben F. Hansen, Emil Høstrup, Tomi Mäki-Opas, Luigi Palmieri, Markku Peltonen, Valentina Possenti, Marco Silano, Gundo Weiler, Kremlin Wickramasinghe, Edwin Wouters, Knut-Inge Klepp, Graziano Onder, Gauden Galea, Strengthening non-communicable diseases monitoring systems in Europe through a multistakeholder collaborative approach: a key priority for advancing data-driven policymaking, The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, Volume 61, 2026, 101553, ISSN 2666-7762,
JACARDI at the ESC Congress 2025: Advancing the integration of mental and cardiovascular health
During the ESC Congress 2025, Professor Héctor Bueno unveiled a new statement from the European Society of Cardiology on mental health and cardiovascular disease, calling for closer collaboration between cardiologists and mental health professionals. The message was clear, mental and cardiovascular health are tightly interconnected, shaping one another from onset through progression to outcomes.
The ESC Congress 2025, held in Madrid at the end of August and organized by the European Society of Cardiology, brought together global leaders in cardiovascular medicine to present the latest advances shaping the future of heart health. Among the standout contributions was the presentation of the 2025 ESC Clinical Consensus Statement on Mental Health and Cardiovascular Disease[1], delivered by Professor Héctor Bueno, co-leader of JACARDI’s working group on data; senior researcher at the Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) and cardiologist at Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre in Madrid (Spain).
Professor Bueno, together with Professor Christi Deaton, from the University of Cambridge (UK), introduced the new ESC Clinical Consensus Statement, which calls for a fundamental change in how mental health and cardiovascular disease are understood, assessed, and addressed in clinical practice. Their message was clear: mental health and cardiovascular health are not isolated domains but deeply interconnected, with each influencing the onset, progression, and outcomes of the other.
The Consensus Statement urges healthcare systems to systematically screen for mental health symptoms during cardiovascular care, and conversely, to routinely evaluate cardiovascular risk in individuals being treated for mental health conditions. This bidirectional approach is grounded in strong evidence: poor mental health contributes to the development of cardiovascular disease, while patients with cardiovascular disease face a significantly higher risk of anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges. When both conditions coexist, outcomes tend to worsen, underscoring the need for integrated care.
A major innovation introduced in the Statement is the creation of Psycho-Cardio Teams, multidisciplinary units in which mental health professionals, such as psychologists and psychiatrists, work alongside with cardiologists and other cardiovascular specialists. These teams aim to ensure early identification of mental health conditions, better coordination of care, and more comprehensive support for both patients and caregivers.
As Professor Bueno emphasized during his presentation: “Clinical cardiovascular practice often overlooks the impact of mental health. We need to see cardiovascular health professionals developing collaborations with mental health professionals in Psycho-Cardio Teams to help identify early mental health conditions in our patients and improve care and support for patients and their caregivers.”
Empowering patients
The proposal represents more than a structural change, it calls for a cultural shift within cardiovascular medicine. By integrating mental health into routine cardiovascular assessments, empowering patients to discuss psychological concerns openly, and acknowledging the complex interplay between emotional and physical well-being, this initiative moves toward a more person-centred model of care.
Such progress represents a significant cultural shift towards a more integrated and responsive healthcare system, with the ultimate goal of empowering patients and enhancing their quality of life. This vision aligns strongly with JACARDI’s mission to promote person-centred, prevention-oriented, and patient-empowerment models of care.
JACARDI and its growing impact on cardiovascular health in Europe
Building on this shared vision, JACARDI is actively contributing to this transformation through initiatives such as working groups focused on patients’ self-management [2] and integrated care pathways [3]. The goals of the Consensus Statement resonate strongly with JACARDI’s commitment to empowering individuals in taking an active role in managing their cardiovascular and mental health.
Professor Bueno’s leadership in this landmark ESC initiative reinforces the consortium’s dedication to advancing cardiovascular health through innovative, holistic, and patient-centred approaches. His contribution at the ESC Congress 2025 marks an important milestone in Europe’s ongoing effort to bridge the gap between mental and cardiovascular health, an effort that promises meaningful benefits for patients across the region, empowering them to openly discuss their mental health with cardiovascular professionals and increasing the likelihood that their concerns will be taken seriously.
During the ESC Congress, the European Alliance for Cardiovascular Health (EACH) also highlighted JACARDI’s role during its annual meeting held in Madrid [4]. EACH partners reviewed progress in their 2025 workplan, celebrated key advocacy achievements, and reaffirmed the importance of coordinated action to improve cardiovascular health across Europe. At the meeting, JACARDI was recognised as a strong example of effective communication and successful synergy-building among partners, illustrating how collaborative approaches can strengthen cardiovascular health initiatives at the European level.
The visible engagement of JACARDI at the ESC Congress 2025 further highlights its increasing impact on the evolution of cardiovascular care in Europe. By championing mental–cardiovascular integration, strengthening patient empowerment, and fostering collaborative care pathways, JACARDI is helping to pave the way for a more holistic, equitable and person-centred cardiovascular health ecosystem across the region.
References:
[1] Héctor Bueno, Christi Deaton, Marta Farrero, Faye Forsyth, Frieder Braunschweig, Sergio Buccheri, Simona Dragan, Sofie Gevaert, Claes Held, Donata Kurpas, Karl-Heinz Ladwig, Christos D Lionis, Angela H E M Maas, Caius Ovidiu Merșa, Richard Mindham, Susanne S Pedersen, Martina Rojnic Kuzman, Sebastian Szmit, Rod S Taylor, Izabella Uchmanowicz, Noa Vilchinsky, ESC Scientific Document Group , 2025 ESC Clinical Consensus Statement on mental health and cardiovascular disease: developed under the auspices of the ESC Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee: Developed by the task force on mental health and cardiovascular disease of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
Endorsed by the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations AISBL (EFPA), the European Psychiatric Association (EPA), and the International Society of Behavioral Medicine (ISBM), European Heart Journal, Volume 46, Issue 41, 1 November 2025, Pages 4156–4225, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf191
[2] Work Package 10: Patients’ Self-management, ‘Be the master of your health’
[3] Work Package 09: Integrated care pathways, ‘Elevating pathways, enhancing Care’
Can artificial intelligence help shape smarter cardiovascular policies across Europe?
What if policymakers across Europe had faster, clearer and more reliable data to guide decisions in cardiovascular health? Addressing that challenge, one of JACARDI’s pilot teams from CNIC presented their work at the ESC Digital & AI Summit 2025, showcasing AI innovations designed to turn evidence into actionable policy.
At the European Society of Cardiology Digital & AI Summit 2025, researchers Fatima Sanchez-Cabo, Juan Ignacio Alvarez Arenas, Daniel Jiménez Carretero, from the Computational Systems Biomedicine group at CNIC (Spanish Cardiovascular Research Center), and active members of JACARDI’s Working Group on Data Availability, Quality, Accessibility and Sharing, presented their poster: CARMINA: Optimizing low-parameter language models for high-quality cardiovascular research assistance. The work was featured in the session From bench to bedside: the potential roles of large language models in cardiovascular medicine, moderated by Professor Lis Neubeck, from Edinburgh Napier University; and Associate Professor Johan Verjans MD PhD FESC FRACP, from the University of Adelaide.
Why does this matter?
Within JACARDI’s Pilot 57, CNIC is developing EUROCARDIAB, a pioneering federated data platform integrating cardiovascular health indicators from across Europe. One of its key features is a CVD impact simulator that models how changes in risk factors could reduce event prevalence, providing policy makers with reliable, data-driven scenarios for national planning.
A dedicated web front-end will share these insights and will also host CARMINA (Cardiovascular And Research-driven Molecular Insight with Novel Assistant), an AI-powered research assistant designed to support specialized cardiovascular research. CARMINA will orchestrate the Intelligent Policy Agent (IPA), enabling autonomous trend analysis, computational modeling of interventions, and the creation of clear, actionable policy briefings for decision-makers in cardiology and diabetology.
This year’s ESC Digital & AI Summit motto, “Prepare for the next frontier in cardiovascular care”, aligns strongly with JACARDI’s overarching mission: accelerating patient outcomes and transforming clinical workflows across Europe through better data, smarter tools and more equitable care pathways.
Today, accurate, comparable and timely data on cardiovascular disease and diabetes remain limited, yet this information is essential for developing targeted policies that reduce disease burden, improve healthcare for all citizens and help close persistent inequalities.
The ESC Digital & AI Summit remains a key meeting point for global leaders, innovators and technology experts shaping the digital transformation of cardiovascular care, and pilots like this one from CNIC demonstrate how JACARDI is already turning that vision into meaningful, data-driven progress across Europe.
The invisible shift that marks a woman’s heart forever 🫀
Hot flashes, mood changes and sleep disturbances are often associated with menopause. But the real, silent threat may lie deeper: the cardiovascular system. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death among postmenopausal women, yet awareness is still low.
Women typically develop heart disease later than men, thanks to the vascular protection offered by estrogen during their reproductive years. But once this hormonal shield declines, risk rises sharply. Estrogen helps regulate lipids, supports endothelial function, and controls inflammation. Without it, LDL cholesterol increases, arteries stiffen, and insulin resistance becomes more common.
📉 Menopause increases risk factors
As highlighted in research developed in Poland [1], the menopausal period is a critical window for cardiovascular risk acceleration. Several factors emerge or intensify during this time: lipid disorders, type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and lifestyle issues like smoking and physical inactivity. In simple terms, during menopause the body experiences more “wear and tear” at the cellular level (known as oxidative stress), and the nervous system becomes more active, which can tighten blood vessels. Substances like endothelin also cause blood vessels to narrow. All these changes can irritate the blood vessel walls and make them stiffer over time.
Physiologically, there’s also a rise in oxidative stress, sympathetic nervous activity, and vasoconstrictive agents like endothelin, contributing to vascular inflammation and arterial remodeling.
Hypertension, in particular, is often underdiagnosed and undertreated in women. In developed countries, about 30% of adult women live with it, many unknowingly. Postmenopausal women are twice as likely to develop hypertension compared to premenopausal women, and even borderline cases can cause more vascular damage in women than in men [2].
This hormonal shift doesn’t just mark the end of fertility, it fundamentally rewires the cardiovascular system. A meta-analysis confirmed that women with early menopause (before age 45) face a higher risk of hypertension, likely due to a steeper drop in estrogen and a lower estrogen-to-androgen ratio [3]. Regular monitoring and healthy lifestyle habits, such as exercise and a balanced diet, are crucial to managing these risks and maintaining heart health.
A gap that matters
Despite strong evidence, most cardiovascular risk assessments still overlook menopause as a critical factor. This oversight leaves many women underdiagnosed during a key phase of vulnerability. Menopause must be seen as a cardiovascular checkpoint. Risk models should integrate hormonal status, and clinicians should tailor prevention, screening, and even hormone therapy decisions with heart health in mind.
That’s where JACARDI comes in. One of the core objectives of the joint action is to address gender-specific gaps in cardiovascular care, including the urgent need to improve outcomes for women in midlife. Menopause can no longer be left out of the cardiovascular conversation.
Let’s bridge the gap. Women’s hearts deserve it!
#JACARDI #EU4Health #CardiovascularHealth #WomensHealth #MenopauseAwareness
Sources:
[1] Ryczkowska K, Adach W, Janikowski K, Banach M, Bielecka-Dabrowa A. Menopause and women’s cardiovascular health: is it really an obvious relationship? Archives of Medical Science. 2023;19(2):458-466. https://doi.org/10.5114/aoms/157308
[2] Miller, V. M., Lahr, B. D., Bailey, K. R., Heit, J. A., Harman, S. M., & Jayachandran, M. (2015). Longitudinal effects of menopausal hormone treatments on platelet characteristics and cell-derived microvesicles. Platelets, 27(1), 32–42. https://doi.org/10.3109/09537104.2015.1023273
[3] Anagnostis, P., Theocharis, P., Lallas, K., Konstantis, G., Mastrogiannis, K., Bosdou, J. K., … & Goulis, D. G. (2020). Early menopause is associated with increased risk of arterial hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Maturitas, 135, 74-79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2020.03.006
More than cancer: The silent epidemic in Europe
“I almost didn’t see my daughter graduate.” Alice, a 45-year-old mother of two, was the picture of health, or so she thought. Until one day, a sudden heart attack left her in the ICU, fighting for her life. Like many others, Alice was unaware of her cardiovascular risk factors. Her story is a stark reminder of the silent epidemic plaguing Europe: cardiovascular disease (CVD). Historically, CVD has been the leading cause of death in the European Union, claiming over 1.8 million lives annually and affecting more than 60 million people. [1],[2] Recent improvements in cardiovascular care in some countries highlight progress, but the burden of CVD remains unparalleled.
Despite its massive toll, CVD lacks the policy attention it deserves. Rising obesity and diabetes rates, particularly among younger populations, are fueling this crisis, while the decline in mortality rates has slowed alarmingly. Marleen Kestens, Manager of CVD Prevention Policies at the European Heart Network (EHN), underscores this urgency:
“CVD remains the leading cause of death in the EU, surpassing cancer and diabetes, yet it has long lacked the policy attention it urgently requires. The progress achieved through Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan presents a clear opportunity: its lessons, good practices, and even its unimplemented measures on prevention and nutrition can help shape an effective Cardiovascular Health (CVH) Plan. With up to 80% of premature CVD deaths being preventable through public health measures and/or preventative treatment, the time to act is now to make the healthy choice the default choice.”
A blueprint for action
The success of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, reflected in the fact that over 90% of its actions are completed or well underway. Council Recommendations on cancer screening, on vaccine-preventable cancers, and on smoke- and aerosol-free environments provide recommendations to Member States and are extending access to important tools such as cancer screening, Human Papillomavirus and Hepatitis B vaccination, and strengthening protection from cancer risk factors such as tobacco. [3]
These principles are equally vital for tackling CVD. JACARDI is committed to building on this momentum. By collaborating with organizations like EHN and supporting the European Alliance for Cardiovascular Health (EACH)’s roadmap, JACARDI aims to promote preventative care and education, advocate for evidence-based policy changes, and foster partnerships to enhance cardiovascular health across Europe.
For the Coordination Team of JACARDI, “the current policy momentum presents a pivotal opportunity to advance the development and implementation of a dedicated EU Cardiovascular Health Plan. Building on the achievements and lessons of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, such a framework must be tailored to the distinct complexities of cardiovascular disease prevention, early detection, and integrated care. We strongly endorse this strategic direction. We are firmly committed to contributing to and advocating for a comprehensive, equity-driven EU response.”
Central to JACARDI’s mission is the promotion of equity and diversity inclusion, grounded in gender-responsive and context-specific approaches. “We believe that only by embedding these principles at every level of policy and practice can we truly reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, and ensure that no one is left behind,” explain the members of JACARDI’s Coordination Team.
Aligned with JACARDI’s vision, EACH envisions a future where, by 2030, premature and preventable deaths from CVD are reduced by one-third [4]. This ambitious goal aligns with Sustainable Development Goal Target 3.4 and prioritizes access to high-quality risk assessments, personalized care pathways, and reduction of health inequalities across Europe.
Turning vision into reality
Alice’s story, though fictional, represents the reality faced by millions. CVD is a silent epidemic, but it doesn’t have to remain that way. By learning from the successes of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and implementing a robust Cardiovascular Health Plan, fewer lives will be lost to preventable cardiovascular conditions. Together, we can make cardiovascular health a priority across Europe and create a future where the healthy choice becomes the default choice.
About the CVH Plan
The European Commission is currently developing the European Cardiovascular Health Plan (CVH Plan) to address Europe’s leading cause of death. In parallel, the European Alliance for Cardiovascular Health (EACH) has published A European Cardiovascular Health Plan: The Roadmap, which sets out a shared vision and concrete recommendations to reduce premature and preventable cardiovascular deaths by one third by 2030. Together, these efforts aim to ensure universal access to risk assessments, patient-centred care, and comprehensive strategies for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation. Learn more.
Sources:
[1] Fighting cardiovascular disease – a blueprint for EU action, June 2020. European Heart Network and the European Society of Cardiology. https://ehnheart.org/about-cvd/eu-action-on-cvd/
[2] Samuel Chin Wei Tan, Bin-Bin Zheng, Mae-Ling Tang, Hongyuan Chu, Yun-Tao Zhao, Cuilian Weng, Global Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases and its Risk Factors, 1990–2021: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021, QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, 2025; hcaf022, https://doi.org/10.1093/qjmed/hcaf022
[3] Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan: a comprehensive action plan working hand in hand with the Cancer Mission. European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies: Domenico Fiorenza Glanzmann, Vittoria Carraro, Philippe Roux; CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. 12 March 2025, https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/380751/Eurohealth-31-1-6-eng.pdf?sequence=1
[4] A European Cardiovascular Health Plan: The need and the ambition, May 2022. European Alliance for Cardiovascular Health (EACH). https://www.cardiovascular-alliance.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/EACH-Plan-Final_130522.pdf