Underdiagnosed and Undertreated: Obesity and Its Cardiometabolic Burden in Swedish Clinical Practice—Insights From the AROS Database
Authors' conclusion
Obesity remains underdiagnosed and undertreated in Swedish healthcare, despite a high burden of cardiometabolic comorbidities and substantially higher long-term cardiovascular risk compared with the general population.
Study context
- Population
- Adults with a recorded BMI ≥ 30 kg/m² between January 2013 and June 2023, AROS database, Sweden; mean age 53.5 years, 55.0% women
- Participants
- 328,094 adults
- Exposure
- Obesity cohort vs matched general population
- Obesityn = 328,094
- Outcome
- Real-world diagnosis, treatment and cardiometabolic burden of obesity
Methodological detailsmatched general population comparison
- Matched general population comparison
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- Recorded obesity prevalence in 2022
- 13.6%
- At least one cardiometabolic comorbidity
- 67.6%
- Recorded obesity diagnosis at index (first BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²)
- 28.8%
- Recorded obesity diagnosis 5 years after index
- 48.0%
- Index BMI recorded in primary care
- 39.7%
- Obesity-management medication within 5 years after index
- 7.8%
- Bariatric surgery within 5 years after index
- 4.2%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | HR (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| Long-term cardiovascular outcomes: heart failure hospitalisation (largest relative difference) | 2.34 (2.29–2.40) | |
| 0.512Hazard ratio (log scale) |
Long-term cardiovascular outcomes: heart failure hospitalisation (largest relative difference)
- Obesity cohort had higher cumulative incidence across all cardiovascular outcomes vs matched population
Original publication
Underdiagnosed and Undertreated: Obesity and Its Cardiometabolic Burden in Swedish Clinical Practice—Insights From the AROS Database. Diabetes Obes Metab. Published 13 May 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →