Burden of disease attributable to obesity and overweight in Korea.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the burden of disease attributable to overweight and obesity using disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) in Korea.


METHODS
Firstly, overweight and obesity-related diseases and their relative risk (RR) were selected by the systematic review. Secondly, population-attributable fractions (PAFs) were computed by using the formula including RR and the prevalence of exposure (Pe) of overweight and obesity. Thirdly, DALYs of overweight and obesity-related diseases in Korea were estimated. Finally, the attributable burden (AB) of diseases due to overweight and obesity was calculated as the sum of the products from multiplying DALYs of overweight and obesity-related diseases by their PAFs.


RESULTS
The disease burden attributable to overweight was 827.1 person years (PYs) overall, 732.6 for men, 922.9 for women per 100,000 persons. The disease burden attributable to obesity was 260.0 PYs overall, 144.2 for men, 377.3 for women. Diabetes attributable to overweight and obesity accounts for highest burden among other diseases in both genders. The disease burden attributable to overweight was 3.2 times higher than that attributable to obesity.


CONCLUSIONS
Most proportion of disease burden attributable to high body mass index (BMI) occurred among those with only moderately raised levels such as overweight, not the extremes such as obesity. It suggests that population-based, public health intervention rather than high-risk group-focused strategies are more effective to reduce the burden of disease attributable to overweight and obesity in Korea.
Department of Health Policy and Management, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Chongro-ku, Seoul, Korea.
J-H
JH
Park
S-J
SJ
Yoon
H
H
Lee
H-S
HS
Jo
S-I
SI
Lee
Y
Y
Kim
Y-I
YI
Kim
Y
Y
Shin
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002764:Cholecystitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology