Obesity Indices and Obesity-Related Quality of Life in Adults 65 Years and Older / 가정의학회지

BACKGROUND: Obesity is known to influence on physical, mental, functional health problems but there have been no study of relationship between body mass index (BMI) and quality of life (QOL) in Korean elderly. METHODS: A total of 216 elderly who had been attending two geriatric welfare facilities in Seoul answered the Korean version of obesity-related quality of life (KOQOL) questionnaire. Height, weight, waist circumference were measured. Body fat (%) was measured with HTM20 by impedance technique. Sociodemographic and medical factors were interviewed. QOL was assessed using KOQOL (ver.1) after excluding two sexual life related questions and one work related question. The total score is 48 points. The higher is the score, the poorer is the QOL. RESULTS: In multivariable analysis, BMI, age, history of diabetes mellitus, history of osteoarthritis were associated with KOQOL score. Especially, BMI was significantly associated with KOQOL score after adjusting for waist circumference, body fat (%) (P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: The more BMI increases, the worse the obesity related QOL is in Korean ambulatory elderly.

Insulin Resistance in Adolescence and the Related Factors: in 10th Grade High School Students in Seoul

BACKGROUND: There are some studies concerning fasting insulin and insulin resistance in normal healthy Korean adults, but none exists especially for adolescence. Therefore, we investigateck insulin resistance and its related factors in adolescence. METHODS: We analyzed 582 10th grade high school students. Height, weight, abdominal circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, total cholesterol, hemoglobin were measured. Fasting state and parent's and student's previous medical history were guestioned. We used Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) as an indicator of insulin resistance. RESULTS: By HOMA-IR 2.15, the subjects were divided into the insulin sensitive and the resistant groups. Two groups showed significant differences in body mass index, systolic diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, total cholesterol and abdominal circumference (P <0.05). HOMA-IR was strongly related to the body mass index (r=0.53) and abdominal circumference (r=0.52), but weakly related to the total cholesterol (r= 0.20). According to logistic regression analysis of HOMA-IR, the odds ratio of the body mass index was 1.17 and that of abdominal circumference was 1.06 (P <0.05). CONCLUSION: HOMA-IR showed strong relationship with body mass index, abdominal circumference, but showed weak relationship with total cholesterol. There was no significant correlation with the parent's diabetic medical history. Therefore we conclude that in adolescence the body mass index or the abdominal circumference is far more important factor than the parent's diabetic history.