The study pooled individual participant data from surveys in 76 countries to compare coverage of cardiometabolic care with the absolute cardiovascular risk reduction achievable by treating those currently untreated, broken down by wealth, region and sex. The largest treatment gaps did not coincide with the largest achievable absolute risk reduction, and socioeconomic inequalities in care were found to widen after diagnosis rather than at detection. Where coverage was uniformly low, the constraint was the overall supply of care rather than its distribution within the population.
Why it is interesting: It separates where care is missing from where treating the untreated would change cardiovascular risk most, and locates the socioeconomic gradient after diagnosis rather than at screening.