Effects of Physical Activity and Other Factors on Abdominal Obesity in Korean Middle-Aged Women: The 7th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2016–2017

ABSTRACT

Background@#Previous studies reported that waist circumference can be a more important risk factor of chronic diseases than body mass index.Abdominal obesity is known to be associated with physical activity and lifestyle. Recent studies have found a high prevalence of abdominal obesity and low physical activity levels in Korean women. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of physical activity and lifestyle on abdominal obesity in Korean middle-aged women. @*Methods@#We collected data from the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys in 2016 and 2017, and 2,274 women aged 45–65 years were evaluated. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between abdominal obesity and many factors after adjusting for confounding variables with significant correlations. @*Results@#The results showed that the mean waist circumference was 80.20±9.05 cm and the prevalence of abdominal obesity was 28.8% in the population. The low physical activity group had the largest population (48.5%). Abdominal obesity was associated with moderate and high physical activity levels (odds ratio [OR], 0.791; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.651–0.962; P=0.019), sedentary time (≥5 h; OR, 1.495; 95% CI, 1.173–1.906;P=0.001), and weekend sleep duration (<7 h/d; OR, 1.406; 95% CI, 1.127; P=0.003). @*Conclusion@#In the Korean middle-aged women, a statistically significant correlation was found between physical activity and abdominal obesity.