Obesity-related deaths on the rise in US—but there is good news for cardiologists
Deaths related to obesity have skyrocketed in the United States in recent years, especially among men, according to new data published in The American Journal of Cardiology.[1]
“Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable deaths mainly due to its association with diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases,” wrote corresponding author Muhammad Shahzeb Khan MD, MSc, a cardiologist with the Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, and colleagues. “It has been estimated that globally, 70% of deaths in obese individuals are due to cardiovascular disease (CVD). Although studies have investigated CVD-related mortality trends, data on demographic and regional trends of both obesity and CVD-related mortality is limited.”
Khan et al. reviewed U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 1999 to 2021, identifying nearly 495,000 deaths attributed to cardiovascular disease (CVD) or mortality.
Exploring key mortality trends in the United States
Overall, obesity and CVD had a combined age-adjusted mortality rate (AAMR) of 6.1 in 1999, but that increased all the way to 16.3 in 2019. (That number jumped to 23.9 in 2020 and 28.9 in 2021, but those years were evaluated separately due to the unknown impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.)
The authors did share some details that cardiologists will appreciate: The rising AAMR is largely due to an increase in obesity-related deaths and not CVD-related deaths. In fact, the AAMRs for CVD, ischemic heart disease and heart failure/cardiomyopathy all decreased over the course of the study.
These are some other key takeaways from the team’s research:
- The combined AAMR for obesity and CVD was 6.19 for men and 5.83 for women in 1999. In 2019, those numbers had jumped to 19.43 and 13.37, respectively.
- The AAMR increased for all races and ethnicities from 1999 to 2019. The total AAMR was highest for Black patients in 2019, but the most significant jump from 1999 to 2019 was found in American Indian/Alaskan Native patients.
- The AAMR increased for both urban and rural patients from 1999 to 2019.
- The AAMR for obesity (irrespective of CVD) was 7.19 in 1999 and 18.94 in 2019. For CVD (irrespective of obesity), however, the AAMR decreased from 798.47 to 595.56.
“Despite a decline in overall CVD mortality, obesity and CVD-related mortality has consistently risen from 1999-2019,” the authors wrote. “Epidemiologic studies demonstrated a higher risk associated with longer durations of obesity, which is linked to socioeconomic factors such as availability of high-calorie food, financial disparities, sedentary lifestyles, and psychosocial stressors. Non-Hispanic Black adults had higher AAMRs compared to Non-Hispanic white adults due to greater exposure to risk factors such as lower education, poorer food quality, limited healthcare access, and unfavorable social determinants of health. While safety-net programs like Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act have increased coverage for Non-Hispanic Black adults, limited access to obesity treatment persists.”
They then called for "targeted initiatives to reduce social and environmental risk factors and provide preventive strategies."
Click here for the full study.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.