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).
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.
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U2 - 10.1002/oby.22610
DO - 10.1002/oby.22610
M3 - Article
C2 - 31565868
AN - SCOPUS:85073955034
VL - 27
SP - 1892
EP - 1897
JO - Obesity
JF - Obesity
SN - 1930-7381
IS - 11
ER -
