Obesity heart risk gaps narrow among older adults

A major international study has found that the long-standing cardiovascular health gap between middle-aged and older adults with obesity and those with a normal weight has closed in several high-income nations. Published on July - in The Lancet, the research indicates that for people over 40, differences in blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol levels have narrowed or disappeared since 1990, largely due to the widespread use of preventive medications.

The analysis examined data from nearly one million adults aged 20 to 79 across seven countries-England, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Finland-from 1990 to 2024. Researchers found that while adults with obesity generally had higher blood pressure and cholesterol in the 1990s, these levels declined more sharply over the subsequent decades among those aged 40 to 79 with obesity or overweight than among their normal-weight peers. This trend was most pronounced in older adults aged 60 to 79. In countries like England and the U.S., older adults with severe obesity ended the study period with similar or even lower levels of these risk factors than older adults with a normal body mass index (BMI).