The prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors among adults living in extreme poverty

Evidence on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor prevalence among adults living below the World Bank’s international line for extreme poverty globally is sparse, as prior studies have used setting-specific rather than absolute measures of poverty. We pooled individual-level data from 105 nationally representative household surveys across 78 countries, representing 85% of people living in extreme poverty globally. We sorted individuals by country-specific measures of household income or wealth to identify those in extreme poverty. The CVD risk factors examined (hypertension, diabetes, smoking, obesity, and dyslipidemia) were present among a substantial proportion of adults in extreme poverty, and most were not treated for CVD-related conditions. The main limitation of our analysis is its potential overestimation of CVD risk factor prevalence because of measurement error in poverty and CVD risk factors. Nonetheless, our detailed analysis and comparison across poverty levels could inform equity discussions for resource allocation and design of effective interventions.