Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among Young Adults with Disabilities: A Nationwide Cohort Study.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Cardiology
• Disability Studies

Background:

• Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk is often underestimated in young adults with long-standing disabilities.
• Conventional risk factors may not fully capture CVD risk in this population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between disability and incident CVD risk in young adults (20-39 years).
• To determine if this association persists beyond conventional risk factors.
• To explore variations in CVD risk based on disability type, severity, and duration.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 7,682,700 Korean adults aged 20-39 without prior CVD.
• Exact-matching of 91,500 individuals with disabilities to non-disabled peers (1:10 ratio).
• Ascertainment of disability via a national certification system; primary endpoint was composite CVD events.

Main Results:

• Individuals with disabilities had higher CVD incidence (102.9 vs 70.2 per 100,000 person-years).
• Disability remained a significant risk factor (HR 1.34) after adjusting for multiple confounders.
• CVD risk was highest for brain lesion-related disabilities and increased with severity and duration.

Conclusions:

• Disability is an independent risk factor for incident CVD in young adults.
• Risk heterogeneity exists based on disability type, severity, and duration.
• Supports enhanced preventive strategies and monitoring within disability care for young adults.