Korean J Health Promot.  2017 Jun;17(2):109-118. 10.15384/kjhp.2017.17.2.109.

Childhood Obesity and Cardiovascular Health: Using 2010-2012 Data of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

• Lee GE
• Choo J

• KMID: 2411436
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.15384/kjhp.2017.17.2.109

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Abdominal obesity as measured by waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) may have stronger and inverse associations with cardiovascular (CV) health than overall obesity as measured by body mass index (BMI). However, there was some challenges for controversies. We aimed to examine the associations of WHtR and BMI with CV health among Korean children using data of the 2010-2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted with the sample of 2,363 children by analyzing by gender and two-age groups (10-12 and 13-18 years). Overall obesity was categorized into 3 groups by BMI percentile: non-overweight (<85), overweight (≥85), and obesity groups (≥95). Abdominal obesity was categorized into 2 groups by WHtR: normal (<0.5) and abdominal obesity groups (≥0.5). The CV health score was defined as a z-score by calculating the sum of 7 CV factors.
RESULTS
The overweight/obesity groups had significantly lower CV health scores than the normal group (P<0.05) in boys and girls aged either 10-12 years or 13-18 years after adjusting for covariates. The abdominal obesity group also showed significantly lower CV health scores than the normal group (P<0.05) in all the groups; this significant association remained significant in boys aged 13-18 years even after further adjusting for BMI category (P<0.01).
CONCLUSIONS
Among boys aged 13-18 years, abdominal obesity as measured by WHtR was significantly and inversely associated with CV health, independent of BMI category. Therefore, it should be considered to assess the level of abdominal obesity as a measure of CV health in late adolescent boys.

Keyword

Obesity; Obesity; abdominal; Cardiovascular disease; Risk factors; Adolescents

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Body Mass Index
Cardiovascular Diseases
Child
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Korea*
Nutrition Surveys*
Obesity
Obesity, Abdominal
Overweight
Pediatric Obesity*
Risk Factors

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