J Korean Acad Fam Med.  1997 Mar;18(3):284-294.

The Influence of Obesity on Health in Adults at or over forty years

• Lee KY
• Park TJ

Abstract

BACKGROUND: It is known that obesity is related to hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes mellitus. The results of study done in Korea are widely spread. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence of obesity by four obesity measure methods and the risk of obesity for obesity related diseases.
METHODS
This study was done for the period from May 1 to August 31, 1995 in three health care centers run by middle sized hospitals in Pusan. The total number of sampled population was 654(men 227, women 427)
RESULTS
We compared obesity by sex and age according to four obesity measure methods. The results were as following . Obesity was more prevailed in women than in men for all measure methods. In women, there was significant difference according to age by Brocas Index(P =0.006), Kassura's modified formula(P=0.018) and Suh's formula(P=0.009) but in men there was no significant difference. We cornpared the laboratory test results of men and women. The test results elevated significantly in men were diastolic blood pressure(P=0.001), hemoglobin(P<0.001), aspartate aminotransferase(AST)(P=0.034), alanine aminotransferase(ALT)(P=0.011), gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase(rGT)(P<0.001). Total cholesterol was elevated significantly in women. We evaluated the correlation of age and obesity with the tests. For the age, systolic blood pressure(P<0.001), diastolic blood pressure(P=0.001), total cholesterol(P<0.001), glucose(P=0.038), AST(P<0.001) were correlated positively. For the obesity, systolic blood pressure(P<0.001), diastolic blood pressure(P<0.001), total cholesterol(P<0.001), glucose(P= 0.045), ALT(P=0.003) were correlated positively. The odds ratio of obesity for elevated blood pressure was 1.03(P=0.005), for hypercholesterolemia 1.03(P=0.001), for elevated ALT 1.03(P =0.005) for hyperglycemia 1.01(P=0.083).
CONCLUSIONS
In this study, we found that the prevalence of obesity is higher in women than in men at 40 years old and beyond. We found that obesity is independent risk factor of elevated blood pressure, hypercholesterolemia and elevated ALT. We suggest that the clinicians be concerned in dealing with obesity.

MeSH Terms

Adult*
Alanine
Aspartic Acid
Blood Pressure
Busan
Cholesterol
Delivery of Health Care
Diabetes Mellitus
Female
Humans
Hypercholesterolemia
Hyperglycemia
Hyperlipidemias
Hypertension
Korea
Male
Obesity*
Odds Ratio
Prevalence
Risk Factors
Alanine
Aspartic Acid
Cholesterol