Early detection of CVD (cardiovascular disease) is crucial to mitigate morbidity and mortality

CVD kills 18 million people globally per year, and over 520 million people live with some form of CVD, a figure that is on the rise. The result is huge societal and economic burden, expected to increase to more than USD 1 trillion in the coming years.

To prevent CVD occurrence and reduce costs, we need to mitigate the disease at an early stage by providing intervention or treatment measures. For this, we need to identify CVD early. Since early onset of CVD is often asymptomatic, this would entail more widespread screening of, at least, potential risk groups.


Today’s tools are not suitable for early detection of CVD

Today, there are a number of tools used for early detection of CVD, such as SCORE2, blood pressure and pulse wave analysis. However, these tools are not precise enough to justify more widespread and precise screening of individuals, leading to many individuals being undiagnosed until the CVD is symptomatic. This increases the risk for serious illness and mortality, and in the end results in huge additional costs for both healthcare and society as a whole.


When CVD is finally detected, diagnosis and treatment are often very costly

For diagnosed CVD patients, more advanced diagnostic methods, such as ultrasound, CTA or angiography, are used to detect and locate the source of the CVD. In most CVDs, abnormal narrowing of arteries is the leading or only cause of the problem.

These methods are very good at finding the problem and enable the physician to decide how to treat the patient. However, they are reactive measures and are generally very costly, requiring scarce specialist competence, and may require hospitalization.


To enable early detection of CVD we need diagnostic tests that are accessible, easy to use and more precise

This will enable more widespread screening of even asymptomatic patients in certain risk groups. Helping to detect potential risks for CVD and support and clarify the need for preventive measures and/or treatment, which will reduce the huge societal and healthcare costs induced by today’s reactive management of CVDs.