The European Commission has launched a new Call for Evidence on health checks for cardiovascular diseases: an EU approach to early detection and screening.
This is more than just another EU initiative. It is a critical moment for our community to ensure that early screening and detection of cardiovascular risk factors, particularly inherited lipid disorders are systematically and strategically embedded in public health policy and cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention across Member States. This is something our community has been advocating for over a decade.
Across Europe, millions of people are living with inherited lipid disorders that significantly increase their risk of early heart attacks, strokes, and a broader spectrum of cardiovascular diseases, often without knowing it. CVDs remains Europe’s number one killer, claiming 1.7 million lives every year. Yet much of this burden is avoidable. An estimated 90 million people in the EU live with one or more inherited lipid disorders that place them at high risk of premature cardiovascular events, many of them undiagnosed.
Conditions such as familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), its severe form homozygous FH (HoFH), elevated lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)], and rare disorders like familial chylomicronaemia syndrome (FCS) are present from birth and largely genetically determined. In many cases, they can be identified through simple, accessible tests. And yet, detection remains alarmingly low. Up to 90% of people with FH are not identified. Despite affecting around 1 in 5 individuals, Lp(a) is rarely measured. Rare but severe conditions like HoFH and FCS are often diagnosed only after serious, sometimes life-threatening complications occur. For too many families, the first sign of risk is not a diagnosis, but a heart attack, a stroke, or a medical emergency. This is not due to a lack of science or tools, but a lack of systematic early detection.
This is precisely the gap that Europe now has an opportunity to address.
Key facts: EU Call for Evidence on cardiovascular health checks
The European Commission has launched a Call for Evidence on a forthcoming Council Recommendation on health checks for cardiovascular diseases: an EU approach to early detection and screening.
The consultation led by DG SANTE, opened on 21 April 2026 and will close on 19 May 2026. It forms part of the Safe Hearts Plan. Stakeholders can submit input via the Commission portal: https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/sante/items/933232/en.
What is being proposed?
The initiative aims to strengthen cardiovascular prevention across the EU by supporting Member States in developing more structured and effective health checks. The focus is on identifying risk earlier, before symptoms appear, and ensuring that people at risk are detected and managed in time. This includes improving access to routine checks for key indicators such as blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol, making better use of risk prediction tools and digital technologies, and targeting screening towards populations most at risk. At its core, the proposal recognises a fundamental reality: cardiovascular diseases develop silently, and prevention depends on detecting risk early enough to act.
What needs to be addressed
While this initiative is a major step forward, its impact will depend on how comprehensively “risk” is defined. If health checks focus only on traditional adult risk factors, a significant part of the problem will remain invisible. Inherited lipid disorders are among the most common drivers of premature cardiovascular disease, yet they are still largely absent from routine screening approaches. These conditions do not develop over time—they are present from birth. This requires a different, more proactive approach.
A meaningful EU framework for health checks must ensure that inherited risk is systematically captured. This includes integrating Lp(a) testing at least once in a lifetime, strengthening early detection of FH, including in children, and enabling pathways to identify severe and rare conditions such as HoFH and FCS. Just as importantly, detection must lead to action, through appropriate follow-up, access to treatment, and family-based approaches such as cascade screening that can protect entire generations. This is how Europe can move from reacting to disease to preventing it before it starts.
How to contribute
The Call for Evidence is open until 19 May 2026. Contributions can be submitted through the European Commission’s “Have Your Say” portal using the link above. This phase is designed for concise input (around 4,000 characters), focusing on the problems to be addressed, key actions, and expected impact. Attachments are possible.
A coordinated response and a call to action
FHEF has been preparing a coherent, evidence-based response to this Call for Evidence, building on our advocacy, policy work, and the lived experience of our community. For a few months a collaboration has been ongoing with the European Atherosclerosis Society and many of the consortia incl. PERFECTO FH, FH EARLY, PerMed FH and the diabetes community to link the opportunity of early screening and detection with Type 1 Diabetes.
To support the feedback process, FHEF will host 2 community calls on Monday, May 11, to present the initiative, gather input, and align on key priorities.
Register here:
This is a critical opportunity to shape how cardiovascular diseases are detected and prevented across Europe. We encourage everyone in our community to engage actively, but also strategically. A clear, unified voice will have far greater impact and ensure that inherited lipid disorders are fully recognised in the final recommendation.
Let’s prevent the preventable together!