Deaths from obesity-related CVD have skyrocketed in US, especially among Black adults

“The number of people with obesity is rising in every country across the world,” lead author Zahra Raisi-Estabragh, MD, a cardiologist and clinical lecturer the William Harvey Research Institute in London, said in a prepared statement from the American Heart Association. “Our study is the first to demonstrate that this increasing burden of obesity is translating into rising heart disease deaths.”

These deaths are the most common among Black adults, particularly Black women. In all other racial groups, cardiovascular deaths related to obesity are more common among men than women. In addition, the authors noted, these deaths were more common among Black adults living in urban areas than those living in rural areas. For all other racial groups, the opposite is true.

“The trend of higher obesity-related cardiovascular death rates for Black women than men was striking and different from all other racial groups considered in our study,” senior author Mamas A. Mamas, MD, DPhil, a professor of cardiovascular medicine with Keele University, said in the same statement.

Read the full study here.