Doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff carry much the same load of untreated cardiovascular risk as everyone else, according to a screening study presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich on 30 August 2026 and published in the European Heart Journal. The ESC Congress Cardiovascular Health Check assessed more than 1,300 healthcare professionals attending ESC Congress 2025, using blood tests, blood pressure readings and, in a subgroup, carotid ultrasound. It then compared them with age and sex matched controls from the general population. Among those screened, 46.8% had excess body weight, 23.2% had high blood pressure and 22.7% had raised cholesterol. Around 20% showed subclinical atherosclerosis, a lower rate than in the matched controls. The work was led by Dr Florian A. Wenzl of the University of Zurich and the University of Oxford.
A gap in treatment rather than knowledge
Recognition of uncontrolled risk factors among the professionals was similar to that in the general population, and treatment rates were lower. Only 27.6% of eligible healthcare professionals were taking blood pressure medication, against 46.5% of controls, and 60% used glucose-lowering medication against 85%. Those who were treated hit cholesterol and blood pressure targets more often than controls, but in secondary prevention only 22.2% of people on lipid-lowering therapy reached their LDL target. Wenzl said healthcare professionals "are not immune to the same barriers that limit cardiovascular prevention in the general population". Lüscher, also quoted in the ESC release, called the pattern "not a failure of knowledge, but of implementation".
What this means in practice
The participants were volunteers who chose to be screened at a cardiology congress, so they are not a representative sample of the workforce, and the assessment captured a single point in time. Read carefully, the result says something narrow and useful: knowing the evidence did not translate into acting on it. Nothing here concerns supplements, and the study tested none. Readers auditing what they already spend on health can compare prices across the full Perqen catalogue.
How Perqen members save
Perqen members pay £4.99 a month or £29.99 a year for member pricing across the whole 1,393-product catalogue. How that pricing works is set out on the membership page.
This article reports published news and research and is for information only. Food supplements are not a substitute for a varied diet or medical care, and no product mentioned is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Speak to your GP or pharmacist before changing what you take, especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or taking prescribed medicines.