Trends in overweight and obesity among korean children and adolescents, 1998-2010

Using the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2010 (KNHANES), we sought to investigate trends in prevalence of overweight and obesity and body mass index (BMI) for Korean youth between 1998 to 2010. KNHANES uses a cross-sectional, representative sample of the Korean child and adolescent population (2 through 18 years of age) with measured heights and weights. Using the 2007 Korean BMI-for-age Growth Charts, prevalence of overweight and obesity was measured (85th≤BMI<95th percentile for overweight and BMI≥95th for obesity, respectively) for 7 survey periods (1998, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010) over 12 years. Over a 12 year period, the prevalence of obesity among Korean children and adolescents has gradually increased. Only 4.35% of Korean children were obese in 1998 but it had increased to 8.04% (95% CI, 6.31% -9.78%) in 2010. The prevalence of overweight has remained stable. In 2001, 9.46% (95% CI, 7.67% - 11.25%) of Korean children were overweight compared to 11.02% (95% CI, 9.25%-12.79%) in 2010. From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in the US, the 2010 prevalence of overweight and obesity was 31.8% and 16.9%, respectively. Compared to the US, Korean children have a low and stable prevalence of overweight and obesity. Despite these lower rates, the prevalence of childhood obesity in Korea is greater than ever before. More research is needed to identify the risk factors of these overweight or obese children in order to prevent the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity in Korea.