--- title: "Obesity-related multimorbidity patterns and reduced quality of life in Iranian adults" id: "bmj-open-19-obesity-related-patterns-of-multimorbidity-and-their-association-with-health" canonical_url: "https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/bmj-open-19-obesity-related-patterns-of-multimorbidity-and-their-association-with-health" content_type: "clinical_feed_article" specialty: "General" source_name: "BMJ Open" source_url: "http://bmjopen.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/16/7/e113704?rss=1" published_at: "2026-07-28T10:51:05.000Z" evidence_level: "Journal Feed" license: "CC-BY-NC-4.0 / Informational Use" --- # Obesity-related multimorbidity patterns and reduced quality of life in Iranian adults ## Provenance & Clinical Metadata - **Canonical URL:** https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/bmj-open-19-obesity-related-patterns-of-multimorbidity-and-their-association-with-health - **Specialty:** [General](https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/general.md) - **Primary Source:** BMJ Open - **Source URL:** [Original Journal Publication](http://bmjopen.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/16/7/e113704?rss=1) - **Published At:** 2026-07-28T10:51:05.000Z - **Evidence Rating:** Journal Feed ## Executive GIST (TL;DR) - This cross-sectional analysis used data from the 2021 Iranian STEPS Survey, a nationally representative WHO STEPwise household survey, including 17,517 adults with complete data. - Latent class analysis identified four distinct multimorbidity clusters based on chronic disease profiles: **Obesity with severe metabolic syndrome (OSMS)**, **Obesity with early metabolic syndrome (OEMS)**, **Low comorbidity (LC)**, and **Non-obese cardiometabolic multimorbidity (NOCM)**. - Cluster prevalences were OSMS 13.0%, OEMS 39.3%, LC 42.4%, and NOCM 5.2%. - Chronic conditions considered included myocardial infarction, stroke, asthma/COPD, cancer, **obesity** (both abdominal and BMI-defined), hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and dyslipidaemia. - Sociodemographic factors — age, sex, education, occupation, insurance status and urban/rural residence — were significantly associated with cluster membership. - Older age, female sex, lower education, unpaid work and urban residence were associated with the two obesity-related clusters (OSMS and OEMS); male sex, older age, retirement and complementary insurance were associated with **NOCM**. - Health-related quality of life, measured by the **EQ-VAS**, was lower in the three multimorbidity clusters compared with LC: OSMS (β = -8.5; 95% CI -10.1 to -6.9), OEMS (β = -2.1; 95% CI -3.2 to -1.1) and NOCM (β = -6.2; 95% CI -8.2 to -4.2). - The study concludes that **multimorbidity** patterns in Iran are heterogeneous and shaped by **obesity** and social disadvantage, underscoring the need for integrated, equity-oriented prevention and coordinated care policies. - Details on limitations, response rates or other survey-specific metrics were not reported in the provided source text. ## Clinical Analysis & Structured Key Points Objective To identify patterns of non-communicable disease (NCD) multimorbidity among Iranian adults and assess their associations with sociodemographic factors and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Design Cross-sectional analysis using data from the 2021 Iranian STEPS Survey, which follows the WHO STEPwise approach to collecting information on NCD risk factors. Setting A community-based, nationally representative household survey conducted across Iran. Participants A total of 17 517 Iranian adults with complete survey data were included. Of these, 56.7% were women and 67.4% lived in urban areas. Primary outcome measures Latent class analysis was used to identify multimorbidity clusters based on chronic disease profiles, including myocardial infarction, stroke, asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, obesity (abdominal and defined by the body mass index), hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and dyslipidaemia. Associations between cluster membership, demographic characteristics and HRQOL (measured using the EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale, EQ-VAS) were examined using multinomial logistic regression. Results Four distinct multimorbidity clusters were identified: obesity with severe metabolic syndrome (OSMS, 13.0%), obesity with early metabolic syndrome (OEMS, 39.3%), low comorbidity (LC, 42.4%) and non-obese cardiometabolic multimorbidity (NOCM, 5.2%). Cluster membership varied significantly by sex, age, education, occupation and insurance status. Older age, female sex, lower education, unpaid work and urban residence were associated with OSMS and OEMS, while male sex, older age, retirement and complementary insurance were associated with NOCM. EQ-VAS scores were significantly lower in the OSMS (β = - 8.5; 95% CI - 10.1 to - 6.9), OEMS (β = - 2.1; 95% CI - 3.2 to - 1.1) and NOCM (β = - 6.2; 95% CI - 8.2 to - 4.2) clusters compared with the LC cluster. Conclusions Multimorbidity clusters in Iran are heterogeneous and linked to demographic and socioeconomic factors. Obesity and social disadvantage strongly shape disease patterns and HRQOL. 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