Association between obesity and metabolic co-morbidities among children and adolescents in South Korea based on national data

Abstract

Background: Childhood obesity has become a serious public health threat worldwide due to its many short- and long-term adverse health effects. We assessed the association between weight status and metabolic co-morbidities among South Korean children using nationally representative data.

Methods: Data from the 2007-2008 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys for 1,526 children aged 10-19 years were used. Logistic regression models were fit to examine the association between weight status [overweight, 85th percentile≤BMI<95th percentile; obese, BMI≥95th percentile; and central obesity, waist circumference≥90th percentile, based on 2007 Korean National Growth Charts] and metabolic outcomes.

Results: More obese children had metabolic co-morbidities than normal-weight children (P<0.05). Boys had higher means BMI than girls, WC, and BP, while girls had higher means of total blood cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol (P<0.05). Attributable risk of metabolic syndrome was high due to overweight and obesity: 91.1% for central obesity and 29.6% for high TG. Obese children had increased risk of having high BP (adjusted odds ratio (OR): 1.90; 95% CI: 1.05-3.45), dyslipidemia (OR: 6.21; 95% CI: 3.59-10.75), high TG (OR: 6.87; 95% CI: 4.05-11.64), low HDL (OR: 4.46; 95% CI: 2.23-8.89), and ≥2 co-morbidities (OR: 26.97; 95% CI: 14.95-48.65) compared to normal-weight subjects, while the associations between weight status and metabolic outcomes were stronger in boys.

Conclusions: Obesity was strongly associated with metabolic co-morbidities in South Korean children.

Figure 1

Risk of metabolic comorbidities attributable to overweight and obesity among children aged 10-19-y-old in South Korea: KNHANES 2007-2008. KNHANES, Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; HDL-C, high density lipoprotein cholesterol. ¹Unadjusted population attributable risks estimated based on the method developed by Fleiss [15]. ²Definitions of metabolic co-morbidities are provided in Methods. ³Among elevated waist circumference, elevated triglycerides, reduced HDL cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, elevated fasting plasma glucose based on the 2007 pediatric IDF definition.