Older Folks With Obesity Now Often Metabolically Similar to Those With Normal BMI

A global study showed that BMI-associated gaps in blood pressure and cholesterol have diminished from 1990 to 2024.With more medications being used, older people with obesity were metabolically similar to, and in some countries even lower risk than, people with a normal BMI.Young adults with obesity remain metabolically higher risk, however, and should be a focus of prevention and treatment, some say.

For middle-age and older people, obesity was no longer associated with the same cardiovascular burden as before -- though it was a different story for young adults, according to a large longitudinal multi-country study.

Across industrialized countries, mean non-HDL cholesterol and systolic blood pressure (BP) declined over time from 1990 to 2024. People in the obesity and overweight body mass index (BMI) ranges increasingly approached their normal-BMI peers in:Non-HDL cholesterol: pooled estimate of change in difference -0.05 mmol/L per decade for women and -0.07 mmol/L per decade for menSystolic BP: -0.7 mmHg per decade for women and -0.6 mmHg per decade for men

In fact, with more older adults using BP- and lipid-lowering medications, people older than 40 years achieved a convergence of these risk factors between individuals with obesity and normal BMI.