What is the reason for and aim of the publication?
Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of mortality and disability in Europe, and yet the gap between available evidence and everyday practice in primary care is still substantial. The statement aims to identify barriers and propose feasible, context-sensitive solutions for implementing prevention guidelines more effectively in primary healthcare, especially in settings with limited resources and high multimorbidity.
What are the most important take-home messages?
- Primary healthcare plays a central role in cardiovascular prevention but requires concise, practical, and context-adapted tools.
- Risk assessment instruments, digital support systems, and shared decision-making are essential to improve adherence and patient outcomes.
- Reducing inequities in rural and underserved populations calls for integrated care models, telehealth, and community engagement.
What are challenges in practical implementation – and possible solutions?
Implementation is hampered by workforce shortages, diagnostic uncertainty, insufficient training, and time pressure in daily practice. Possible solutions include task-sharing within multidisciplinary teams, integration of digital decision-support systems into electronic health records, simplification of guideline recommendations for primary care, and better alignment of reimbursement policies to support preventive services.
Which issues still need to be tackled, that are not yet addressed by the paper?
Further efforts are needed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of guideline implementation, to develop risk assessment tools that are validated for multimorbid and underserved populations, and to integrate social determinants of health more systematically into prevention strategies.
What further developments on the topic are emerging?
The rapid expansion of digital health, artificial intelligence, and remote monitoring offers great potential for risk stratification, patient engagement, and personalized prevention in primary care. At the same time, strengthening cross-sector collaboration and embedding prevention in community and policy frameworks will be crucial to ensure equitable access and sustainability.
Primary healthcare professionals can be better supported to deliver guideline-based prevention by continuous education, access to simplified decision-support tools, and the creation of professional networks for sharing best practices are essential to empower healthcare providers and reduce the gap between evidence and practice.
Scientific statement: Implementation of prevention guidelines in primary healthcare
Kurpas D, Petrazzuoli F, Shantsila E, et al. Implementation of prevention guidelines in primary healthcare: a scientific statement of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology of the ESC, the ESC Council for Cardiology Practice, the Association of Cardiovascular Nursing & Allied Professions of the ESC, WONCA Europe, and EURIPA. Eur J Prev Cardiol. Published online July 17, 2025. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwaf384
Document types published by the ESC, Associations, Councils, Working Groups, and ESC Committees (according to the ESC Scientific Documents Policy):
