Even cardiologists and other clinicians struggle to manage their own cardiovascular health
Cardiologists and other healthcare professionals who attend major cardiology conferences may still need help managing their cardiovascular health, according to new data presented at European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2026. The findings were simultaneously published in European Heart Journal.[1]
The study’s authors reviewed data from more than 1,300 healthcare professionals who attended ESC Congress 2025. Each participant underwent a comprehensive evaluation, including blood tests. Those results were compared with an age- and sex-matched group of adults who are not healthcare professionals.
Overall, the most common cardiovascular risk factors identified among healthcare professionals were obesity (48.6%), hypertension (23.2%) and high cholesterol (22.7%). While 11.1% of healthcare professionals had established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), subclinical atherosclerosis was detected in 21.8% of healthcare professionals without established ASCVD.
In addition, healthcare professionals were significantly less likely to use recommended preventive treatments to lower their blood pressure or glucose levels than members of the general public.
As one might expect, healthcare professionals were more aware of their cholesterol than the general public. However, unrecognized high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes were all just as likely among healthcare professionals as they were among the general public.
“Our findings show that healthcare professionals are not immune to the same barriers that limit cardiovascular prevention in the general population,” first author Florian A. Wenzl, MD, PhD, a researcher with the Center for Molecular Cardiology at the University of Zurich and the Radcliffe Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford, said in a statement.
Another key takeaway from this analysis was the fact that some treatments appeared to be more effective for healthcare professionals than others. When healthcare professionals took preventive medications as recommended, for instance, they were more likely to achieve recommended cholesterol or blood pressure targets than the matched controls.
“These results tell us that once healthcare professionals engage with treatment, it works well,” Wenzl said. “The core problem lies earlier in the pathway—in whether guideline-recommended therapy is started and maintained at all.”
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Michael has more than 19 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.