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Review
. 2025 Apr;40(2):174-184.
doi: 10.3803/EnM.2025.2398. Epub 2025 Apr 24.

Prevalence and Current Status of Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Korean Adults Based on Fact Sheets 2024

Eun-Jung Rhee  1
Affiliations
Review

Prevalence and Current Status of Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Korean Adults Based on Fact Sheets 2024

Eun-Jung Rhee. Endocrinol Metab (Seoul). 2025 Apr.

Abstract

Korea has entered 'super-aged' society in 2025 with the proportion of people 65 years or older exceeding 20% as of the end of the year 2024. The health burden of cardiovascular diseases increases with age, and the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia, may be linked to increased population-level cardiovascular risk. According to data from 2022, the overall prevalence of obesity reached 38.4%, marking a continued upward trend, based on National Health Insurance medical checkup data. In the combined data of 2021 to 2022, the prevalence of diabetes was 15.5% in Koreans older than 30 years according to the Diabetes Fact Sheet 2024 published by the Korean Diabetes Association, based on data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The prevalence of hypertension in the total population of Korea in 2022 was 30% according to the Korean Hypertension Fact Sheet produced by the Korean Society of Hypertension. Lastly, the prevalence of dyslipidemia in 2022 was 40.9% according to the Dyslipidemia Fact Sheet published by the Korean Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis. In this article, I would like to review the prevalence and current management of cardiovascular risk factors in Korea according to the fact sheets released by various associations in 2024.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Dyslipidemias; Fact sheet; Hypertension; Obesity; Risk factors.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Eun-Jung Rhee is a deputy editor of the journal. But she was not involved in the peer reviewer selection, evaluation, or decision process of this article. No other potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Prevalence of obesity in the last 10 years (2013 to 2022). Modified from Korean Society for the Study of Obesity [4].
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Prevalence of cardiometbolic risk factors in Korean adults. Modified from Korean Society for the Study of Obesity [4], Korean Diabetes Association [5], Korean Society of Hypertension [6], and Korean Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis [7].
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Prevalence of diabetes according to age and sex (2021 to 2022). Modified from Korean Diabetes Association [5].
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes in the elderly (≥65 years) and younger (19 to 39 years) age groups. Modified from Korean Diabetes Association [5].
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
Treatment status of hypertension according to age groups. Modified from Korean Society of Hypertension [6].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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