ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: We aimed to investigate the prevalences of obesity, abdominal obesity, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among children and adolescents during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This population-based study investigated the prevalences of obesity, abdominal obesity, and NAFLD among 1428 children and adolescents between 2018-2019 and 2020. We assessed the prevalences of obesity, abdominal obesity, and NAFLD according to body mass index, age, sex, and residential district. Logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the relationships among obesity, abdominal obesity, and NAFLD. RESULTS: In the obese group, the prevalence of abdominal obesity increased from 75.55% to 92.68%, and that of NAFLD increased from 40.68% to 57.82%. In age-specific analysis, the prevalence of abdominal obesity increased from 8.25% to 14.11% among participants aged 10-12 years and from 11.70% to 19.88% among children aged 13-15 years. In residential district-specific analysis, the prevalence of both abdominal obesity and NAFLD increased from 6.96% to 15.74% in rural areas. In logistic regression analysis, the odds ratio of abdominal obesity for NAFLD was 11.82. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated that the prevalences of abdominal obesity and NAFLD increased among obese Korean children and adolescents and in rural areas during the COVID-19 outbreak. Additionally, the prevalence of abdominal obesity increased among young children. These findings suggest the importance of closely monitoring abdominal obesity and NAFLD among children during COVID-19, focusing particularly on obese young children and individuals in rural areas.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease , Adolescent , Humans , Child , Child, Preschool , Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/epidemiology , Obesity, Abdominal/complications , Obesity, Abdominal/epidemiology , Prevalence , COVID-19/epidemiology , Obesity/epidemiology , Body Mass Index , Republic of Korea/epidemiologyABSTRACT
During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, the prevalence of obesity increased globally; this may be associated with hypertension incidence. However, investigations on the changes in the prevalence of hypertension among children and adolescents are limited. This cross-sectional study investigated the prevalence of hypertension among 1428 youths aged 10-18 years using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2018-2020. We assessed the prevalence of hypertension according to sex, age, body mass index (BMI), and residential district. The prevalence of hypertension increased from 7.1% to 12.5% in all participants. In the sex-specific analysis, the prevalence was found to be increased in boys. In the age-specific analysis, the prevalence was found to be increased in youths aged 13-15 years. In the BMI-specific analysis, an increase in the prevalence was prominent in the normal BMI group. In the residential district-specific analysis, the prevalence of hypertension among youth increased in urban areas. Our results show that the prevalence of hypertension increased among Korean children and adolescents during the COVID-19 outbreak. These findings suggest the importance of close monitoring of hypertension among youth during the COVID-19 pandemic.