Obesity-Linked Heart Disease Deaths Rising Fastest Among Younger Australians

Premature deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD) linked to obesity are rising in Australia, with the sharpest increases among younger adults and people in socio-economically disadvantaged areas.

The study, published in the journal BMC Medicine, analysed national mortality data to track trends in obesity-related cardiovascular deaths among Australians aged 35 to 74.

Professor Tim Adair, a demographer from the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne, said the findings provide the clearest evidence yet for the long-term health impacts of obesity.

“These death rates are increasing fastest in younger adults, and we know this generation has experienced higher long-term obesity prevalence in childhood and young adulthood than previous generations,” Adair said.

He further added that premature deaths were “particularly high in people living in more socio-economically disadvantaged areas.”

Obesity-Linked Cardiovascular Disease on the Rise

The study examined Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) death certificate data from 2007 to 2022 to identify long-term trends in premature CVD deaths.

Premature CVD refers to CVD that occurs earlier than expected in life, with definitions for “early” ranging from ages 55 to 65.

The study analysed deaths among people aged 35 to 74 in which CVD occurred alongside other chronic conditions—diabetes, chronic kidney disease, obesity, lipidaemias (abnormal blood lipid levels), and hypertension (high blood pressure).

Over the 15-year period, the death rate dropped between 2007 and 2014 before increasing again. By 2022, the mortality rate had risen to 103.8 per 100,000 for males and 50.5 per 100,000 for females.

Among the contributing conditions, obesity showed the fastest growth. The rate of obesity-linked CVD deaths doubled for both sexes, rising from 8 to 16 per 100,000 among males, and from 5 to 10 per 100,000 among females.

The study also identified significant and widening socioeconomic inequalities. As of 2022, Australians living in the most disadvantaged areas experienced obesity-related CVD deaths at 3.51 times the rate of those living in the most advantaged areas. This ratio has increased from 3.16 times in 2007.

Together, these findings point to a growing public health challenge. Not only is obesity contributing to premature heart disease deaths, but it also deepens health inequalities.

Worldwide Obesity Burden is Growing

The Australian findings sit within a broader global trend of rising obesity rates.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines overweight adults as those with a body mass index (BMI) of greater than 25, and obesity as a BMI above 30.

For children and adolescents aged 5 to 19, BMI is used together with the WHO Growth Reference tables.

In Australia, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) reports that 66 percent of adults were overweight or obese in 2022. The figure has remained relatively stable since 2018.

However, the proportion had increased for young Australians.

Twenty-eight percent of children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 were overweight or obese in 2022, up from 25 percent in 2018.

Globally, obesity affects one in eight people, according to figures from the World Health Organisation. In 2022, an estimated 2.5 billion adults were overweight, including 890 million living with obesity.

Double Burden of Malnutrition

The burden of obesity is not evenly shared.

The WHO describes a “double burden of malnutrition,” where low and middle-income countries face poor nutrition and reduced physical activity, driving up overweight and obesity.

“Children are exposed to high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt, energy-dense, and micronutrient-poor foods, which tend to be lower in cost but also lower in nutrient quality,” the 2025 report reads.

This combination creates a dynamic that drives obesity even when undernutrition is present.

Adair’s study suggests similar dynamics are found in Australia.

He points out that relatively cheap unhealthy food options and lack of walkable neighbourhoods are key contributors to the trend.

“[The study results] are consistent with what we know about obesity prevalence being higher in more socio-economically disadvantaged areas, particularly due to economic and environmental factors such as widely available and relatively cheap unhealthy food options and lack of walkability of local neighbourhoods,” he said in a media release.

The study also points out that overweight and obesity are more prevalent among people with lower levels of completed education and people from regional or rural areas.

Adair added that what he saw in Australia outlines widening disparities between the socio-economically disadvantaged and those from more advantaged areas.

“This is a global problem and an urgent public health concern,” he said.

“While we know that there is a place for weight loss medications such as GLP-1 drugs to reduce obesity rates in Australia, we still need to address the underlying social, economic and environmental factors that are quite clearly contributing to premature deaths from obesity.”