Cardiovascular Screening Doesn’t Lower death Risk in Men Aged 60-64

A comprehensive screening for early cardiovascular disease (CVD) didn’t reduce overall death rates in men aged 60 to 64, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2025. This challenges the idea that widespread screening automatically leads to better outcomes.

Experts estimate 80% of heart attacks adn strokes are preventable. Roughly half of thes could be avoided with early detection and intervention. Population screening aims to find people with early CVD signs, but solid evidence proving it reduces deaths has been lacking.

“We previously found that inviting men aged 65 to 74 for cardiovascular screening didn’t considerably lower overall death rates. however, a subgroup of men aged 65 to 69 did appear to benefit. We designed the DANCAVAS 2 trial to see if screening a younger group – men between 60 and 64 – could significantly reduce deaths.”

Professor Axel Cosmus pyndt Diederichsen, Principal Investigator of the DANCAVAS 2 trial, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark

The DANCAVAS 2 trial was a randomized controlled study. It included all men aged 60-64 living in 18 Danish municipalities from August 2017 to November 2018.Participants had no exclusion criteria. Men were randomly assigned – in a 1:4 ratio – to either receive an invitation for subclinical CVD screening (the invited group) or not receive an invitation (the control group).