Preventing cardiovascular risk before it starts: France’s new roadmap echoes a decade of research at PARCC
France’s National Cardiovascular Health Roadmap 2026–2030 places primordial prevention firmly on the public health agenda – a priority that has been central to the work of Jean-Philippe Empana, Xavier Jouven and PARCC’s Team for more than a decade.
The new roadmap promotes a comprehensive approach to preventing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, combining healthier living environments, early identification of risk factors and coordinated preventive care. It highlights Mon Bilan Prévention as a tool for cardiovascular prevention and sits alongside the European Union’s Safe Hearts Plan.
A central ambition is primordial prevention: preventing cardiovascular risk factors from developing in the first place. This approach seeks to preserve ideal cardiovascular health throughout life by supporting healthy behaviours and addressing the social and environmental conditions that shape them.
For PARCC’s Team Integrative Epidemiology of Cardiovascular Diseases, led by Jean-Philippe Empana and Xavier Jouven, this policy direction resonates strongly with a longstanding research programme. Their work has helped build the scientific evidence supporting a broader view of cardiovascular health, extending beyond the prevention of heart disease to brain health and healthy ageing.
A notable example is a 2018 study published in JAMA, conducted with collaborators at Bordeaux Population Health and other French research centres, with Jean-Philippe Empana as senior author. The study found that better cardiovascular health in older adults was associated with a lower risk of dementia and slower cognitive decline. These findings highlighted the importance of the heart–brain connection and supported further investigation of cardiovascular health promotion as a strategy to preserve cognitive function.
The roadmap’s emphasis on primordial prevention gives renewed public health relevance to this research. It also reflects the breadth of Team 4’s scientific commitment: from understanding cardiac arrest and improving survival to identifying ways to preserve cardiovascular health before disease develops.
Translating these ambitions into lasting improvements will require sustained investment, equitable access to prevention and rigorous evaluation. For PARCC, the new roadmap is an encouraging sign that questions pursued through long-term epidemiological research are increasingly reflected in public health priorities.
Preventing risk factors before they emerge offers an opportunity to protect both heart and brain health across the life course.
