Prevention & lipidsResearch article
Metabolic Vulnerability Index and Risk of Total Mortality: Findings From the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis
- Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis
Authors' conclusion
Among mid-life adults free of clinical CVD at baseline, higher MVX scores were strongly and independently associated with future mortality, irrespective of incident morbidity-including CVD. These findings suggest that the MVX score offers unique insight into an individual’s vulnerability to mortality beyond traditional risk factors and disease status.
Study context
- Population
- Adults from all participating MESA sites free of clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) at baseline (2000–2002)adults free of clinical CVD at baseline
- Participants
- 5,887 adults
- Comparison
- MVX and total mortality
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Total mortality across MVX quartiles · 94 351 person-years of follow-up
Mortality increased across quartiles
from 19.5% to 37.4%
Further findings
| Outcome | hazard ratio (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| Total mortality · median follow-up, 17.9 years · minimal attenuation after adjustment for incident disease | 1.73 (1.49–2.01) | |
| Total mortality, stratified by incident CVD — fourth quartile vs quartile 1 · with incident CVD | 1.74 (1.38–2.20) | |
| Total mortality, stratified by incident CVD — fourth quartile vs quartile 1 · without incident CVD | 1.68 (1.38–2.05) | |
| 0.512Hazard ratio (log scale) |
CVD- and non-CVD-related deaths
- Similarly higher rates in higher quartiles of MVX
Original publication
Metabolic Vulnerability Index and Risk of Total Mortality: Findings From the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Circ Popul Health Outcomes. Published 20 February 2026. doi:10.1161/circoutcomes.125.013020
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it