Fig. 3

Prevalence of abnormal cardiometabolic risk factors by BMI group in cross-sectional studies. TC: total cholesterol; LDL: low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; HDL: high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; TG: triglycerides; BP: blood pressure; SBP: systolic blood pressure; DBP: diastolic blood pressure; FG: Fasting Glucose; HbA1c: haemoglobin A1c. A single panel under BP represents abnormal values of SBP or DBP. Abnormal values of fasting plasma glucose (≥ 100 mg/dl) and glycated hemoglobin (> 5.7%) are those recommended by the American Diabetes Association for identifying persons at high risk for diabetes (at least in the prediabetes range). Studies based on cohorts from the United States (a) and other countries (b) are presented. The definition of severe obesity varied between studies, as did the thresholds that defined abnormal values of cardiometabolic morbidity (Additional file 1: Table S2)