Korean J Fam Pract 2020; 10(4): 284-291  https://doi.org/10.21215/kjfp.2020.10.4.284
Association between Body Weight Perception and Metabolic Syndrome in Korean Adults: The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2015–2016
Lee Yeon Kim1, Kyung Won Shim2,*, Hong Soo Lee1, Sang Wha Lee1, Ji Yoon Choi1
1Department of Family Medicine, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine; 2Department of Family Medicine, Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
Kyung Won Shim
Tel: +82-2-6986-3090, Fax: +82-2-6986-3096
E-mail: ewhashim@ewha.ac.kr
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8289-9301
Received: July 5, 2019; Revised: February 28, 2020; Accepted: May 21, 2020; Published online: August 20, 2020.
© The Korean Academy of Family Medicine. All rights reserved.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: Obesity has become a concern globally. The incidence of metabolic syndrome has increased rapidly in Korea over the past decades. Previous studies have reported obesity as a major cause of metabolic syndrome. Body mass index (BMI) and body weight perception have been widely used as indirect predictors of the risk of metabolic syndrome. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate subjective body weight perception and the risk of metabolic syndrome in adults over 20 years of age and confirm the gap between body weight perception and the objective measure of BMI.
Methods: This study was conducted aming 9,842 Korean adults over 20 years of age using data from the VI-3 (2015) and VII-1 (2016) Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey. The BMI criteria were set according to the WHO Asia Pacific Standard criteria. Perceived body weight status was measured according to the question, “How would you describe your body shape?”. The patients were grouped as “obese,” “slightly obese,” “right weight,” and “under weight” according to the original responses (“very obese,” “slightly obese,” “normal,” “slightly thin,” and “very thin”). Data analysis was performed using chi-square test, analysis of variance, and logistic regression.
Results: Among the participants, the risk of metabolic syndrome was progressively higher with the body weight perception as obese. Additionally, the risk of metabolic syndrome was higher in those with a higher BMI than in those with subjective body weight perception.
Conclusion: In this Korean population, increased risk of metabolic syndrome showed higher associated with higher BMI than with body weight perception.
Keywords: Body Mass Index; Obesity; Body Weight Perception; Metabolic Syndrome
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