Current Atherosclerosis Reports · Oct 29, 2026

Highlights of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Studies Presented at the 2026 European Society of Cardiology Conference

By Abdul Jabbar AB, Zulfiqar K, Malik SAR et al.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review summarizes key cardiovascular disease prevention studies presented at the 2026 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress, highlighting new evidence in lipid management, cardiovascular risk assessment, blood pressure control, and vaccination. RECENT FINDINGS: Several studies addressed persistent gaps in lipid management and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease prevention. STAREE showed that atorvastatin reduced major cardiovascular events in adults aged 70 years and older without established cardiovascular disease, although it did not significantly improve disability-free survival. The SHASTA-3 and SHASTA-4 trials showed that plozasiran produced substantial and sustained triglyceride reductions and reduced acute pancreatitis events in patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia. VICTORION-Challenge demonstrated greater LDL-C reduction and target attainment with inclisiran compared with bempedoic acid in high- and very-high-risk patients receiving background statin therapy. In patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, VSA003 substantially lowered LDL-C and several other atherogenic lipoproteins by inhibiting ANGPTL3. Two studies examined imaging-based approaches to preventive therapy: RESPECT2 showed that coronary computed tomography angiography-guided lipid management improved adherence compared with conventional risk-score-based treatment, while CorCal found that coronary artery calcium-guided statin recommendations reduced the number of patients selected for treatment and were associated with greater LDL-C lowering and higher reported adherence, although noninferiority for cardiovascular events was not established. Beyond lipid management, long-term follow-up of the China Rural Hypertension Control Project showed that intensive blood pressure management led by non-physician healthcare providers reduced dementia and cognitive impairment. TIMER demonstrated sustained LDL-C lowering with once-monthly ticalicibart in patients with nonfamilial hypercholesterolemia receiving background statin therapy, while TRANQUILITY demonstrated sustained reductions in high-sensitivity C-reactive protein with the interleukin-6 (IL-6) inhibitor pacibekitug in patients with chronic kidney disease. DAN-RSV demonstrated that RSVpreF vaccination reduced RSV-related respiratory and cardiorespiratory hospitalizations across two seasons. Studies presented at ESC 2026 broadened the evidence base for cardiovascular prevention across pharmacologic therapy, imaging-guided risk assessment, blood pressure management, and vaccination.

doi.org/10.1007/s11883-026-01481-5 PubMed 42955217 Interventions