Appropriate waist circumference cutoff points for central obesity in Korean adults.
BACKGROUND
The International Diabetes Federation consensus recently proposed a new definition for the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome, incorporating ethnically specific waist circumference (WC) cutoff points.


OBJECTIVE
We investigated the ethnically appropriate WC cutoff values for central obesity in Korean adults to predict increased risk of elevated triacylglycerol, reduced HDL cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, elevated fasting plasma glucose, or two or more of these factors.


METHODS
We used data from 6561 adults, aged 20-80 years, who participated in the Korean Health and Nutritional Examination Survey of 1998, a cross-sectional health survey of a nationally representative sample of Koreans.


RESULTS
Based on the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the WC value for predicting metabolic risk factors in Koreans was about 85 cm for men and 80 cm for women. The odds ratio for the risk of two or more metabolic risk factors increased abruptly in men with WC >or= 90 cm and women with WC >or= 85 cm. The 80th percentile for WC in the Korean population was 90 cm for men and 86.5 cm for women. Thus, the appropriate WC cutoff point for central obesity in Koreans was determined to be 90 cm for men and 85 cm for women.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on our criteria, the prevalence of central obesity was 19.8% in Korean men and 24.5% in Korean women. These findings suggest the applicability of ethnically specific cutoff points for WC in assessing central obesity.
Lee
Sang Yeoup
SY
Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Pusan University, Pusan, Republic of Korea.
Park
Hye Soon
HS
Kim
Dae Jung
DJ
Han
Jee Hye
JH
Kim
Seon Mee
SM
Cho
Guem Joo
GJ
Kim
Dae Young
DY
Kwon
Hyuk Sang
HS
Kim
Sung Rae
SR
Lee
Chang Beom
CB
Oh
Seung Joon
SJ
Park
Cheol Young
CY
Yoo
Hyung Joon
HJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D049628:Body Size; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000145:classification*; D011336:Probability; D012307:Risk Factors
D008055:Lipids