Heart failure & cardiomyopathies
HERZCHECK: Early Detection of Subclinical Heart Failure Using Mobile Cardiac Magnetic Resonance and Telemedicine in Rural and Underressourced Regions
Authors' conclusion
Subclinical pre-HF affects approximately one-fourth of the at-risk population in rural and underresourced regions. The HERZCHECK approach identifies patients suitable for targeted preventive interventions ≈7 years earlier than the standard of care.
Study context
- Population
- Asymptomatic participants (40–69 years) with ≥1 cardiovascular risk factor (obesity, smoking, arterial hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, or chronic kidney disease) in rural and underresourced regions of Germanyincluded in the final analysis, 4666 enrolled
- Participants
- 4,509 participants
- Exposure
- Time difference between detection of subclinical pre-HF in HERZCHECK and the first symptom-based diagnosis of HF within the standard of care
- HERZCHECKn = 4,509
- Control cohortn = 8,420
- Outcome
- Prevalence of subclinical pre-HF
Methodological details12 sites across rural and underresourced regions of Germany, telemedically supervised contrast-free short cardiac magnetic resonance in mobile screening units, matched and entropy-balanced control cohort constructed from claims data
- 12 sites across rural and underresourced regions of Germany
- Telemedically supervised contrast-free short cardiac magnetic resonance in mobile screening units
- Matched and entropy-balanced control cohort constructed from claims data
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
HERZCHECK
22.7%
prevalence · 95% CI 21.5%–23.9%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Time of identification of subclinical pre-HF vs average onset of symptomatic HF within the standard of care
- Global longitudinal strain-based screening identified subclinical pre-HF before the average onset of symptomatic HF within the standard of care (n=8420)
- 6.7 years
Original publication
HERZCHECK: Early Detection of Subclinical Heart Failure Using Mobile Cardiac Magnetic Resonance and Telemedicine in Rural and Underressourced Regions. Circ Heart Fail. Published 14 July 2026. doi:10.
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