Obesity (esp. abdominal type) was still considered as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. During the last decade has a new phenomenon appeared: "obesity paradox", i.e. patients with high BMI die less frequently than patients with low BMI. Obesity paradox was described first in patients with chronic renal failure, heart failure or in oncological patients, later on in patients with cardiovascular disease and now also in patients with type 2 diabetes. In comparison with population studies, BMI associated with low cardiovascular mortality in patients with Type 2 diabetes is shifted to the higher level than in subjects from general population. Mechanisms of obesity paradox is not yet clarified.
肥胖（尤其是腹型肥胖）仍被视为心血管疾病的一个危险因素。在过去十年中出现了一种新现象：“肥胖悖论”，即体重指数（BMI）高的患者比BMI低的患者死亡频率更低。肥胖悖论最初在慢性肾衰竭、心力衰竭患者或肿瘤患者中被描述，后来在心血管疾病患者中也有发现，现在在2型糖尿病患者中同样存在。与人群研究相比，2型糖尿病患者中与心血管死亡率低相关的BMI水平比普通人群中的受试者更高。肥胖悖论的机制尚未阐明。
