Koreans Do Not Have Higher Percent Body Fat than Australians: Implication for the Diagnosis of Obesity in Asians

Duong Duc Pham; Seung Ku Lee; Chol Shin; Nan Hee Kim; John A. Eisman; Jacqueline R. Center; Tuan V. Nguyen; Chae Hun Leem

doi:10.1002/oby.22610

Koreans Do Not Have Higher Percent Body Fat than Australians: Implication for the Diagnosis of Obesity in Asians

Duong Duc Pham
, Seung Ku Lee
, Chol Shin^*
, Nan Hee Kim
, John A. Eisman
, Jacqueline R. Center
, Tuan V. Nguyen
, Chae Hun Leem

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objective: It has been assumed that, for a given BMI, Asians have higher percent body fat (PBF) than Caucasians. As a result, it has been suggested that the BMI threshold for diagnosing obesity in Asians be lowered to less than 30 kg/m². This study sought to compare PBF between Koreans and Australians. Methods: Whole-body fat mass and PBF were measured in 1,211 Koreans and 1,006 Australians using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (Lunar Prodigy; GE Healthcare, Madison, Wisconsin). The two groups were then matched for age and BMI by the propensity score method. Results: For a given age and BMI, Koreans had lower PBF than Australians, and the difference was statistically significant in women (mean difference: −2.13%; 95% CI: −2.61% to −1.65%) but not in men (difference: −0.54%; 95% CI: −1.22% to 0.14%). Matched-pair analysis (423 pairs of women and 208 pairs of men) also showed that Korean women had statistically lower PBF than their Australian counterparts (P < 0.001). Conclusions: In individuals aged 60 years and older, Koreans do not have higher PBF than Australians after adjusting for BMI. These results suggest that there is no evidence for lowering the BMI threshold for the diagnosis of obesity in elderly Koreans.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1892-1897
Number of pages	6
Journal	Obesity
Volume	27
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.22610
Publication status	Published - 2019 Nov 1

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
agencies: This research was supported by a grant (2014-E71003-00) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Korea and the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (10068076, 2014M3A9D7034366, 2015M3A9B6028310, 2015M3A9B6027142). The Dubbo Osteoporosis Epidemiology Study (DOES) was partly supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC; grant number APP1007539; awarded to TVN).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Obesity Society

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Medicine (miscellaneous)
Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Endocrinology
Nutrition and Dietetics

Access to Document

10.1002/oby.22610

Cite this

@article{109f212ed26b4766a1e027bfbbc279e0,

title = "Koreans Do Not Have Higher Percent Body Fat than Australians: Implication for the Diagnosis of Obesity in Asians",

abstract = "Objective: It has been assumed that, for a given BMI, Asians have higher percent body fat (PBF) than Caucasians. As a result, it has been suggested that the BMI threshold for diagnosing obesity in Asians be lowered to less than 30 kg/m2. This study sought to compare PBF between Koreans and Australians. Methods: Whole-body fat mass and PBF were measured in 1,211 Koreans and 1,006 Australians using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (Lunar Prodigy; GE Healthcare, Madison, Wisconsin). The two groups were then matched for age and BMI by the propensity score method. Results: For a given age and BMI, Koreans had lower PBF than Australians, and the difference was statistically significant in women (mean difference: −2.13\%; 95\% CI: −2.61\% to −1.65\%) but not in men (difference: −0.54\%; 95\% CI: −1.22\% to 0.14\%). Matched-pair analysis (423 pairs of women and 208 pairs of men) also showed that Korean women had statistically lower PBF than their Australian counterparts (P < 0.001). Conclusions: In individuals aged 60 years and older, Koreans do not have higher PBF than Australians after adjusting for BMI. These results suggest that there is no evidence for lowering the BMI threshold for the diagnosis of obesity in elderly Koreans.",

author = "Pham, \{Duong Duc\} and Lee, \{Seung Ku\} and Chol Shin and Kim, \{Nan Hee\} and Eisman, \{John A.\} and Center, \{Jacqueline R.\} and Nguyen, \{Tuan V.\} and Leem, \{Chae Hun\}",

note = "Funding Information: agencies: This research was supported by a grant (2014-E71003-00) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Korea and the Bio \& Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (10068076, 2014M3A9D7034366, 2015M3A9B6028310, 2015M3A9B6027142). The Dubbo Osteoporosis Epidemiology Study (DOES) was partly supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC; grant number APP1007539; awarded to TVN). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 The Obesity Society",

year = "2019",

month = nov,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1002/oby.22610",

language = "English",

volume = "27",

pages = "1892--1897",

journal = "Obesity",

issn = "1930-7381",

publisher = "John Wiley and Sons Inc.",

number = "11",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Koreans Do Not Have Higher Percent Body Fat than Australians

T2 - Implication for the Diagnosis of Obesity in Asians

AU - Pham, Duong Duc

AU - Lee, Seung Ku

AU - Shin, Chol

AU - Kim, Nan Hee

AU - Eisman, John A.

AU - Center, Jacqueline R.

AU - Nguyen, Tuan V.

AU - Leem, Chae Hun

N1 - Funding Information: agencies: This research was supported by a grant (2014-E71003-00) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Korea and the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (10068076, 2014M3A9D7034366, 2015M3A9B6028310, 2015M3A9B6027142). The Dubbo Osteoporosis Epidemiology Study (DOES) was partly supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC; grant number APP1007539; awarded to TVN). Publisher Copyright: © 2019 The Obesity Society

PY - 2019/11/1

Y1 - 2019/11/1

N2 - Objective: It has been assumed that, for a given BMI, Asians have higher percent body fat (PBF) than Caucasians. As a result, it has been suggested that the BMI threshold for diagnosing obesity in Asians be lowered to less than 30 kg/m2. This study sought to compare PBF between Koreans and Australians. Methods: Whole-body fat mass and PBF were measured in 1,211 Koreans and 1,006 Australians using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (Lunar Prodigy; GE Healthcare, Madison, Wisconsin). The two groups were then matched for age and BMI by the propensity score method. Results: For a given age and BMI, Koreans had lower PBF than Australians, and the difference was statistically significant in women (mean difference: −2.13%; 95% CI: −2.61% to −1.65%) but not in men (difference: −0.54%; 95% CI: −1.22% to 0.14%). Matched-pair analysis (423 pairs of women and 208 pairs of men) also showed that Korean women had statistically lower PBF than their Australian counterparts (P < 0.001). Conclusions: In individuals aged 60 years and older, Koreans do not have higher PBF than Australians after adjusting for BMI. These results suggest that there is no evidence for lowering the BMI threshold for the diagnosis of obesity in elderly Koreans.

AB - Objective: It has been assumed that, for a given BMI, Asians have higher percent body fat (PBF) than Caucasians. As a result, it has been suggested that the BMI threshold for diagnosing obesity in Asians be lowered to less than 30 kg/m2. This study sought to compare PBF between Koreans and Australians. Methods: Whole-body fat mass and PBF were measured in 1,211 Koreans and 1,006 Australians using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (Lunar Prodigy; GE Healthcare, Madison, Wisconsin). The two groups were then matched for age and BMI by the propensity score method. Results: For a given age and BMI, Koreans had lower PBF than Australians, and the difference was statistically significant in women (mean difference: −2.13%; 95% CI: −2.61% to −1.65%) but not in men (difference: −0.54%; 95% CI: −1.22% to 0.14%). Matched-pair analysis (423 pairs of women and 208 pairs of men) also showed that Korean women had statistically lower PBF than their Australian counterparts (P < 0.001). Conclusions: In individuals aged 60 years and older, Koreans do not have higher PBF than Australians after adjusting for BMI. These results suggest that there is no evidence for lowering the BMI threshold for the diagnosis of obesity in elderly Koreans.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85073955034

U2 - 10.1002/oby.22610

DO - 10.1002/oby.22610

M3 - Article

C2 - 31565868

AN - SCOPUS:85073955034

SN - 1930-7381

VL - 27

SP - 1892

EP - 1897

JO - Obesity

JF - Obesity

IS - 11

ER -

Koreans Do Not Have Higher Percent Body Fat than Australians: Implication for the Diagnosis of Obesity in Asians

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this