Does obesity without metabolic syndrome increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in the elderly population?
In the elderly, metabolic syndrome, rather than obesity itself, appears to be the primary driver of cardiovascular disease risk.
In our elderly population, we found that the presence of obesity without metabolic syndrome did not confer a higher CVD risk. However, metabolic syndrome was strongly associated with CVD risk, and was associated with an increased risk in all BMI categories. Therefore, preventive interventions targeting cardiometabolic risk factors could be considered in elderly, regardless of weight status.
Dhana et al. (Thu,) studied this question.