New research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association finds that the impacts of obesity on heart disease have increased. The analysis found that between 1999 and 2020, obesity-related deaths from cardiovascular disease increased threefold.
The research also found Black individuals had higher mortality rates than any other racial group in the study.
Mortality rates for all groups in the study were higher in rural areas, except for in Black individuals, who had higher mortality rates in urban settings.
Black women had the highest mortality rates of any single group in the study.
"Our study is the first to demonstrate that this increasing burden of obesity is translating into rising heart disease deaths," said lead study author and cardiologist Zahra Raisi-Estabragh, MD, in a statement. "This rising trend of obesity is affecting some populations more than others, particularly Black women."
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The most common diseases contributing to the increase in deaths were ischemic heart disease, also known as coronary heart disease, and hypertensive diseases as a result of chronic high blood pressure.
The study incorporated records from more than 280,000 deaths in which obesity was a contributing factor.
Between 2017 and 2020, obesity rates in the U.S. population reached 41.9%, an increase of almost 10% over the previous decade. The researchers also noted that obesity continues to be a global phenomenon, with rates of obesity rising in every country.
In the U.S. alone, obesity incurs health care costs of some $173 billion.
The researchers say their study highlights the need for better socially-targeted interventions that could help alleviate current health care inequalities.
