BACKGROUND Obesity increases the risk of many chronic diseases and contributes to functional disabilities. We assessed the relationship among obesity and obesity related chronic disease and disability in Korean adults. METHODS This study used data from the 2005 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A total of 5,462 persons (2,325 men, 3,137 women) aged 20 years and older we...

Abdominal obesity is a strong predictor of metabolic disorders. Prospective data on the association between the Mediterranean diet and surrogate markers of abdominal adiposity are scarce. The present study evaluated the relationship between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and (1) changes in waist circumference (WC) and (2) 10-year incidence of abdominal obesity. We conducted a prospective, ...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Obesity is reported to be associated with erosive esophagitis (EE). However, the temporal association of obesity and abdominal obesity with EE is unclear. We conducted this study to investigate the temporal association of obesity, especially abdominal obesity with EE. METHODS Among 1,182 subjects who underwent health screening examinations including upper endoscopy in both 200...

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of excess body weight and abdominal obesity and assess the association with socioeconomic, demographic and behavioral factors among adults of Maranhão, Brazil. METHODS Multistage cluster sample investigated through a household survey on 1,005 adults aged 20 to 59 years (393 men and 612 women). Anthropometric measures: weight, height and waist circumferenc...

AIM To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the state-wide implementation of the health promotion program "Join the Healthy Boat" in primary schools in Germany. METHODS Cluster-randomized intervention trial with wait-list control group. Anthropometric data of 1733 participating children (7.1 ± 0.6 years) were taken by trained staff before and after a one year intervention period in the academic...

BACKGROUND Among adults, obesity has been positively related to bone mineral density. However, recent findings have pointed out that abdominal obesity could be negatively related to bone density. The above mentioned relationship is not clear among pediatric populations. Therefore, this cross-sectional study analyzed the relationship between thickness of abdominal adipose tissue and bone mineral...

BACKGROUND Higher height and weight are known to be associated with higher risk of atrial fibrillation (AF); however, whether the risk of AF is related to abdominal obesity is unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 501 690 adults (mean age: 47.6±14.3 years; 250 664 women [50.0%]) without baseline AF in the National Sample Cohort released by the National Health Insurance Service in Korea. Bod...

Introduction: Obesity is a major health challenge in both the developed and developing countries and associated with increased surgical risk and postoperative complications. Though once considered to be a relative contraindication, laparoscopic Cholecystectomy (LC) in obese patients is considered to be safe in experienced hands. The aim of this study is to assess the short term outcome of LC in...

OBJECTIVE Obesity, especially abdominal, is a risk factor for many diseases. This study explored trends in the prevalence of general and abdominal obesity, 1986-2004, in northern Sweden. METHODS AND PROCEDURES Cross-sectional population surveys were performed in 1986, 1990, 1994, 1999, and 2004; 250 men and 250 women aged 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, and 55-64 years (from 1994, also 65-74 years) were...

BACKGROUND Recent guidelines stressed the need to adopt different values of waist circumference (WC) measurements to define abdominal obesity in different ethnic groups. The aim of this study is to identify WC cutoff points in normotensive and hypertensive subjects which are diagnostic of abdominal obesity in a Middle Eastern population and the prevalence of abdominal obesity in a nationwide sa...