A large systematic review and meta-analysis published in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders has pooled data on cardiovascular disease and its major modifiable risk factors across Asian populations, finding that overall cardiovascular disease affects roughly one in twenty adults, while hypertension, obesity, diabetes and smoking remain widespread across the continent. The study, published open access on 27 October 2026, combined 62 population-based observational studies covering 2,379,293 adults from 11 Asian countries.
The researchers searched PubMed/MEDLINE and Scopus for studies published between 1 January 2015 and 16 February 2026. Eligible studies reported the prevalence of overall cardiovascular disease, stroke, coronary heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, obesity or smoking among adults aged 18 years and older. The team used random-effects meta-analyses with logit-transformed proportions to calculate pooled prevalence estimates with 95% confidence intervals, assessed between-study heterogeneity with the I² statistic, and ran subgroup and meta-regression analyses to explore regional and temporal variation.
The pooled estimates revealed a layered picture of cardiovascular risk. Overall cardiovascular disease had a pooled prevalence of 5.53% (95% CI: 2.15–13.47), stroke 1.83% (95% CI: 1.04–3.20), and coronary heart disease 3.0% (95% CI: 1.0–6.0). Among the major modifiable risk factors, obesity showed the highest pooled prevalence at 37.6% (95% CI: 28.4–47.9), followed by hypertension at 29.0% (95% CI: 22.5–36.5), smoking at 22.0% (95% CI: 11.0–39.0), and diabetes at 11.0% (95% CI: 8.5–14.1).
Regional subgroup analyses were carried out for hypertension, diabetes and obesity, but only where a sufficient number of studies were available. The authors caution that these subgroup findings should not be generalized to all outcomes, and that pooled continental estimates should be interpreted with caution given the substantial statistical heterogeneity observed.
That heterogeneity was, in fact, extreme: the I² statistic exceeded 99% across outcomes, meaning that nearly all of the variability in the pooled estimates reflects real differences between the individual studies rather than random sampling variation. The authors state explicitly that this is why the pooled figures demand careful interpretation.
Despite these limitations, the authors frame the convergent burden of cardiovascular disease and cardiometabolic risk factors across the included Asian populations as evidence of a critical stage of cardiovascular transition. Rapid demographic and lifestyle changes in the region have increased the burden of cardiometabolic risk factors, and cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Asia. Comprehensive pooled estimates covering both disease and its major modifiable risk factors had previously been limited, which the review set out to address.
On the basis of their findings, the researchers argue that strengthened hypertension and metabolic risk management, together with preventive strategies tailored to specific regional contexts, is essential to curb future cardiovascular morbidity in the region.
The study is a systematic review and meta-analysis of previously published observational research, so its estimates describe the prevalence reported in the included studies rather than newly measured disease rates, and they cannot by themselves establish causal relationships. The authors also note that the published version was shared early as accepted peer-reviewed research and remains subject to further editorial edits before the final Version of Record. Readers should treat the wide confidence intervals, particularly for smoking and overall cardiovascular disease, as a signal of the uncertainty inherent in combining such heterogeneous studies.
Subject of Research: Pooled prevalence of cardiovascular disease and major cardiometabolic risk factors among adults in selected Asian countries
Article Title: Pooled prevalence of cardiovascular disease and major cardiometabolic risk factors in selected asian adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Article References: Khan, M., Mansour, M. H. A. A., Ramadhan, A., Htoon, A., Jan, A., Sultana, S., Chittarasu, B. K., Dixitri, P., Al-Ramadhani, H. M. S. A., Kashipovich, A. X., & AL-Othrubi, Z. M. (2026). Pooled prevalence of cardiovascular disease and major cardiometabolic risk factors in selected asian adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Cardiovascular Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12872-026-06902-6
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1186/s12872-026-06902-6
Keywords: cardiovascular disease, meta-analysis, systematic review, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, smoking, stroke, coronary heart disease, Asia, prevalence, cardiometabolic risk factors
