People with obesity have worse cardiovascular health than people with normal weight, especially as they get older, right?
Not necessarily. People over 40 with obesity appear to have both their blood pressure and cholesterol under control at levels rivaling their peers with normal body mass index, research published Wednesday in the Lancet has found. The new study tracked these cardiovascular risk factors in adults of varying ages and BMIs for 25 years, an era preceding new obesity drugs but coinciding with expanded use of far less costly statins and blood pressure pills.
Since 1990, blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol levels fell more sharply among people considered overweight (BMI over 25) or with obesity (BMI 30 and above) who are 40 to 79 years old than among people the same age who have a body mass index of 20 to 25, researchers from the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration reported. By 2024, the 60- and 70-year-olds in the study had blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol levels similar to or even lower than older adults with normal BMI.
For adults under 40, there was no such convergence between differing BMI groups, likely reflecting less screening for the two silent dangers.
In a commentary published with the study, Yuan Lu of Yale University saw the converging risk factor levels as a win for preventive cardiology.
