Heart Failure’s New Villains: Obesity + Diabetes, Not Heart Attacks

The incidence of heart failure is rising, but the biggest causes of heart failure are changing. We’ve gotten better at preventing and treating heart attacks—now chronic metabolic disease is taking the lead, and that should change how we think about prevention.

A December 2025 Study by Sayed, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, analyzed NHANES data from 1988–2023 and found heart failure prevalence increased from 2.1% to 3.0%. Among adults with heart failure, the prevalence of obesity nearly doubled (32.5% → 60.4%), impaired glucose regulation increased (48.6% → 69.2%), and chronic kidney disease rose (38.6% → 52.3%), while traditional risk factors like elevated blood pressure, high cholesterol, and prior myocardial infarction declined.

Learn More: https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2025.09.1503