정지혜1, 조영규2

1인제대학교 임상영양연구소, 2인제대학교 의과대학 서울백병원 가정의학과

Backgroud: Although the obesity prevalence in Korean children and adolescents has stabilized since early
2000s, it is noted that severe obesity is increasing. However, no diagnostic criteria to define severe obesity in
Korean children and adolescents has not been recommended yet.
Methods: We established two kinds of diagnostic criteria of severe obesity with the 2007 Korean National
Growth Charts; 1) body mass index (BMI) criteria 1: BMI≥120% of 95th percentile or 30 kg/m2, whichever is
lower, 2) BMI criteria 2: ≥99th percentile. We examined the prevalence of severe obesity among children and
adolescents who participated in the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2010-2012
based on BMI criteria 1 and 2 as well as percentage-weight-for-height (PWH).
Results: We presented the age- and sex-specific BMI cut-offs of BMI criteria 1 and 2. The prevalence of severe
obesity was 1.6% and 1.7% based on BMI criteria 1 and 2, respectively. The prevalence of severe obesity
based on PWH was 0.8%, which was lower than the prevalences based on BMI criteria 1 and 2.
Conclusions: Our diagnostic criteria of severe obesity can be utilized in the epidemiological surveys and researches
before the recommendation of the formal diagnostic criteria.
Korean J Health Promot 2016;16(3):174-179
Keywords: Child, Adolescent, Obesity, Body mass index, Prevalence