AI Insight
This UK-based study screened 4,256 adults in community settings for cardiovascular disease risk using point-of-care testing. The screening identified that 20% of participants had a high cardiovascular risk score (QRISK3 ≥10%), with 35% having elevated cholesterol and 19% meeting criteria for hypertension management. Notably, 60% of high-risk individuals were not receiving lipid-lowering therapy at the time of screening, indicating substantial unmet treatment needs.
Why it matters
Community-based point-of-care screening can identify individuals at high cardiovascular risk who are not currently receiving appropriate preventive treatment. This approach could help address gaps in cardiovascular disease prevention, particularly in disadvantaged and ethnically diverse populations where traditional healthcare access may be limited.
Understand the Science
by Kiran Roest, Catherine Kelly, Tracy Marshall, Emily Whales, Lisa Taylor, Rachel Hatfield, Kate Bunyan, Luke Dawson, Steve Roest, Julia Newton
Objectives
To evaluate the proof-of-concept feasibility of identifying individuals at high risk of cardiovascular disease through community-based PocDoc Healthy Heart point-of-care screening in a large, ethnically diverse, disadvantaged real-world cohort in the United Kingdom.
Methods
Proof-of-concept, non-randomised, non-interventional real-world cardiovascular disease risk case finding study in adults aged 18 years or older in real-world communities across the United Kingdom. Main outcome measures were identification of individuals with high risk of cardiovascular disease, defined as QRISK3 score ≥10%; and individuals meeting the criteria for weight loss, smoking cessation, or hypertension management services.
Results
A total of 4,256 individuals (mean age 49 years, 57% male, 31% body mass index ≥30 kg/m2) were included in the Primary Cohort. The Targeted Outreach and Workplace sub-cohorts comprised 1,970 and 756 individuals, respectively. In the Primary Cohort, 35% (1,486/4,256) had high (>5.0 mmol/L) total serum cholesterol, 10% were smokers, 10% met criteria for weight loss services and 19% met criteria for hypertension management services. QRISK3 scores were generated for individuals who had not previously had a cardiovascular disease event (~90% of screened individuals). A QRISK3 score ≥10% was found in 20% (784/3,842) of individuals in the Primary Cohort, 26% (457/1,743) in the Targeted Outreach sub-cohort, and 6% (41/701) in the Workplace sub-cohort. In the Primary Cohort, 60% (472/784) of individuals with a QRISK3 score ≥10% were not being treated with a lipid-lowering therapy at the time of testing.
Conclusions
In this proof-of-concept study, community-based point-of-care screening identified individuals with elevated cardiovascular risk and unmet cardiovascular risk management needs. These findings are hypothesis-generating and provide the rationale for further controlled studies with systematic follow-up and health-economic analyses to evaluate whether this approach can deliver improved clinical and system-level outcomes.
Trial registration
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06258005
Source: Rapid community "Healthy Heart" screening to identify people at high risk of cardiovascular events