EFPIA and Vaccines Europe welcome the European Commission’s proposal for a Council Recommendation on cardiovascular health checks. 

To deliver on the EU Safe Hearts Plan, the final Recommendation should address both cardiovascular risk factors and the interconnected diseases that drive cardiovascular harm. 

Nathalie Moll, Director General, EFPIA, said:  

"As the Council negotiates this Recommendation, Member States have an opportunity to put in place policies which could save millions of lives, ensure health system resilience and support wider European economies and societies. The Recommendation put forward is bold and ambitious. If implemented in full it will prevent many future cardiometabolic conditions and reduce inequalities in and between Member States.  

Early detection and screening are critical for keeping European citizens healthier for longer. We would ask Member States to preserve and build on the proposal’s strongest elements. This includes health checks in primary care settings, offering opportunistic health checks and the provision of appropriate follow-up treatment and care for all patients." 

Sibilia Quilici, Executive Director, Vaccines Europe, said: “Vaccines Europe welcomes the recognition of the value of vaccination. It is important that immunisation status also be reviewed at every systematic cardiovascular health check.” 

EFPIA and Vaccines Europe ask Member States to recognise obesity as a disease in its own right in the final Recommendation and ensure health checks lead to appropriate prevention, management and treatment. 

Member States should also: 

1. Put #KnowYourNumbersBy35 at the heart of the Recommendation: offer everyone a comprehensive baseline cardiometabolic assessment by age 35, followed by regular reassessment. 
2. Review immunisation status as part of systematic cardiovascular health checks 
3. Reach people at higher risk sooner: tailor the timing and frequency of checks to individual risk. 
4. Make checks accessible: combine organised screening with opportunistic checks, including in primary care. 
5. Connect checks to care: provide follow-up diagnosis and integrated care for cardiovascular risk factors, diabetes and obesity, with specialist referral where needed. 

EFPIA and Vaccines Europe look forward to working with Member States and partners in the cardiometabolic community to improve health for all Europeans. 

The EFPIA-Vaccines Europe position on health checks can be found here.

Notes to editors

Health checks: Dyslipidaemia – particularly elevated LDL-C – diabetes and obesity should be included.

Recognition of obesity as a disease: The European Commission Recommendation describes obesity as a risk factor for CVD but fail to acknowledge the definition used by the WHO and the European Society of Cardiology, which asserts that obesity is also a disease in itself, requiring prevention, management and treatment to prevent CVD. Elevated lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)], a largely inherited risk factor, can also increase cardiovascular risk and is often not identified through routine assessment.

The role of immunisation in CVD prevention has been explicitly recognised by the European Commission in the Safe Hearts Plan as well as by a growing body of scientific evidence, including a European Society of Cardiology consensus statement.