Heart failure & cardiomyopathiesCross-sectional study
HERZCHECK: Early Detection of Subclinical Heart Failure Using Mobile Cardiac Magnetic Resonance and Telemedicine in Rural and Underressourced Regions
- cross-sectional cohort study
- 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
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
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Prevalence of subclinical pre-HF
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:10.1161/circheartfailure.125.013935
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it