Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among Young Adults with Disabilities: A Nationwide Cohort Study
Young adults with disabilities face significantly higher cardiovascular disease risk, pointing to an overlooked population needing early screening.
In a nationwide Korean cohort of 7.68 million young adults (20–39 years), disability was independently associated with elevated cardiovascular disease risk beyond conventional factors, with risk varying by type and severity. This large-scale evidence highlights young adults with disabilities as a severely under-recognized cardiovascular risk population warranting proactive screening and prevention.
What the study was
- Study design
- Nationwide cohort study (exact 1:10 matching)
- Population
- Korean adults aged 20–39 years, n=7,682,700 total (n=91,500 with disability matched 1:10 to non-disabled peers); physical, brain lesion-related, sensory, or communication disabilities
- Sample size
- 7682700
- Category
- Public Health
- Maturity
- Validated
- Journal
- European Journal of Preventive Cardiology
Why it surfaced
Unprecedented scale (7.68M cohort) characterizing CVD risk in young adults with disabilities — a high-unmet-need population routinely excluded from cardiovascular risk assessment; exact 1:10 matching strengthens causal inference; Eur J Prev Cardiol.
A plain-language summary of published research — not medical advice. Talk to a clinician about your own care.