The Prevalence of Obesity, Abdominal Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome among Elderly in General Population

Background: The prevalence of obesity, abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome is important for health policies and clinical practice. The aim of study is to estimate the prevalence of obesity, abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome among older than 65 years in general population and identify the differences by gender. Additionally, we examined the prevalence of the abnormality of metabolic components by sex. Methods: We analyzed data from the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES IV) 2007. The subjects of this study include persons over 65 years. We used data about demographics, chronic diseases, medications and blood laboratory results. Results: The prevalence of obesity, abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome in elderly women was 46.9%, 56.3% and 46.7 % (International Diabetes Federation [IDF] criteria) respectively. In elderly men, 23.1%, 26.6 % and 21.7 % (IDF criteria). The prevalence of metabolic syndrome by modified ATP III was 63.2 % in elderly women and 41.7 % in elderly men. The prevalence of these was significantly higher in women elderly other in men elderly (P < 0.001). The abnormality of HDL-C among the individual metabolic components was significantly higher in women elderly than in men elderly. The prevalence of HDL-C abnormality in women elderly reached 79.9%. Conclusion: The prevalence of obesity, abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome was higher in Korea than US and Europe, and higher among women elderly than men elderly. Recent increase in prevalence of these might be a public