No benefit from repeated cardiovascular screening among 72-year-old Danes: 5-year follow up in the Viborg Screening Program (VISP +5 )

Objective To investigate benefits of five-year re-screening among individuals without previous screen-detected carotid plaque (CP), with primary focus on presence of CP. Secondary outcomes included lower extremity artery disease (LEAD), abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), hypertension (HT), and diabetes mellitus (DM). The Viborg Screening Program (VISP) offers combined cardiovascular screening to all 67-year-olds Danes living in Viborg Municipality, including CP assessment. The present observational cohort study (VISP ^+ 5 ) was conducted from November 2020 to June 2021. The VISP ^+ 5 cohort included VISP participants without ultrasound-verified CP at baseline, who were subsequently invited to undergo repeated screening at age 72. Results A total of 945 VISP participants had a five-year follow-up period (range: 4.50 to 5.49 years); 570 (60.3%) had no CP at baseline screening, 21 died, and 3 were lost to follow-up. 546 were eligible for VISP ^+ 5 , of whom 458 attended (83.9%). Presence of CP was observed in 25 (5.5%), while LEAD in 4 (0.9%), AAA in 1 (0.2%), HT in 29 (6.3%) and DM in 8 (1.8%). No participant had more than one new screen-detected condition. The fact that only a small proportion developed CP, and even fewer developed other cardiovascular-related conditions, suggests minimal benefit from repeated cardiovascular screening within this timeframe.