Autovacuum lag causes bloat and planner estimate degradation

Autovacuum falls behind on large or high-churn tables, leading to increased table bloat, rising memory pressure, and unreliable planner estimates. Query times increase as bloat accumulates. Tables with long update/delete histories and high n_dead_tup values in pg_stat_user_tables are affected.

Check pg_stat_user_tables for high bloat ratios, lagging last_autovacuum timestamps, and elevated n_dead_tup counts. Tune autovacuum parameters to run more frequently or aggressively on affected tables. Never disable autovacuum. Monitor autovacuum completion to ensure it keeps pace with table churn.