From obesity to cardiovascular disease: pathological basis and clinical implications

Obesity is a major global health burden with profound cardiovascular implications, contributing to morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Excess adiposity promotes atherosclerosis, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, stroke, and venous thromboembolism through entangled mechanisms, including adipose tissue dysfunction, chronic low-grade inflammation, immune dysregulation, endothelial impairment, insulin resistance, and neurohormonal activation. Dysfunctional adipose tissue, including perivascular and epicardial fat, actively contributes to vascular inflammation, cardiac remodeling, and arrhythmogenesis. Although the "obesity paradox" has been described, obesity remains strongly associated with earlier and more severe cardiovascular events. Recent therapeutic advances, particularly incretin therapies, have improved the management of obesity and its consequences by realizing notable weight loss and metabolic benefits. However, important gaps in obesity phenotyping, cardiovascular risk stratification, and individualized therapy persist, supporting integrated precision-medicine and public-health strategies to reduce obesity-related cardiovascular burden.