Recent trends in the prevalence of underweight, overweight, and obesity in Korean adults: The Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1998 to 2014

Abstract

Background

Recent obesity studies have reported that the rising trend in obesity has stabilized or leveled off. Our study aimed to update estimates of the recent prevalence trend in obesity based on the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1998–2014.

Methods

A total of 66,663 subjects were included and defined as being either underweight, overweight, or obese, in accordance with a BMI of 18.5 kg/m ² or lower, 23 kg/m ² or higher, and 25 kg/m ² or higher, respectively.

Results

The prevalence of underweight in KNHANES I through VI surveys was 5.4%, 6.1%, 5.8%, 6.5%, 7.6%, and 7.5%, respectively, in men ( p for trend = 0.04, β = 0.003) and 4.7%, 3.3%, 3.4%, 3.3%, 2.7%, and 2.6%, respectively, in women ( p for trend = 0.03, β = −0.002). Also for KNHANES I through VI, the respective prevalence of overweight/obesity was 50.3%, 57.2%, 62.5%, 62.3%, 61.4%, and 61.3% in men ( p for trend<0.01, β = 0.009) and 48.3%, 50.3%, 50.0%, 47.8%, 47.0%, and 45.3% in women ( p for trend<0.01, β = −0.01), respectively.

Conclusions

The obesity occurrence in men was trending upward with respect to overweight/obesity and for grade 1 and 2 obesity, but not for abdominal obesity. However, the obesity trends in women were leveling off from overweight/obesity, grade 1 obesity, and abdominal obesity measures. Further studies are required with data on muscle mass and adiposity for effective obesity control policies.

Highlights

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  We conducted this study using the KNHANES from 1998 to 2014.

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  Male obesity showed upward trends in overweight/obesity and grade 1 and 2 obesity.

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  Overweight/obesity, grade 1, and abdominal obesity were leveling off in females.

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  The prevalence of underweight decreased in men but increased in women.