REVIEW article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Policy
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1561328
This article is part of the Research TopicDigital Technologies in Chronic Disease Management: Strategies for Enhanced PreventionView all 7 articles
Scanning the horizon of personalized prevention research: an overview of ongoing European funded initiatives
Provisionally accepted
Alessandra Maio1
Sara Farina1*
Tommaso Osti1
Salvatore Di Grande1
Roberta Pastorino1,2
Stefania Boccia1,2- 1University Department of Life Science and Public Health, Section of Hygiene, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- 2Department of Woman and Child Health and Public Health, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
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Introduction. Non-communicable diseases represent a significant burden on global healthcare, necessitating innovative strategies to enhance prevention and management. Personalized prevention, an emerging approach leveraging omics data to tailor interventions, holds promise for improving risk stratification, early diagnosis, and preventive strategies. To gain insights on the latest funding investments in this field, we mapped European Commission (EC)-funded research projects on personalized prevention for non-communicable diseases.We carried out a scoping review of grey literature sources, following the Arksey and O'Malley framework, combined with expert consultations to validate findings and address data gaps. Inclusion criteria focused on projects that began or were ongoing in 2024 (from January 1 st to December 31 st ).Results. We identified 67 projects supported by a total amount of €511.9 million from EC funding. The main programs include Horizon Europe, Horizon 2020, and EU4Health. In particular, Horizon Europe funds 51% of these projects, with a total allocation of €253.8 million, 44% of which specifically address cancer. Overall, 48% of the projects target cancer, followed by neurological and psychiatric diseases (15%), cardiovascular diseases (13%), metabolic disorders (9%), and other NCDs (16%). In terms of prevention levels, 21% of the projects are dedicated to primary prevention, 41% to secondary prevention, and 38% to tertiary prevention.Conclusions. The EC's investment in personalized prevention is predominantly directed towards cancer, reflecting the goals of the Cancer Mission and the European Beating Cancer Plan. Research on tertiary prevention remains less prominent, likely due to its already established clinical applications, while the emphasis on primary and secondary prevention is reassuring, considering the current gaps in clinical utility evidence in these areas.
Keywords: Personalized prevention, Research, Non-communicable diseases, european commission, Projects
Received: 15 Jan 2025; Accepted: 16 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Maio, Farina, Osti, Di Grande, Pastorino and Boccia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sara Farina, University Department of Life Science and Public Health, Section of Hygiene, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
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