Department of Preventive Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Epidemiol Health. 2023;45:e2023033. doi: 10.4178/epih.e2023033. Epub 2023 Mar 7.
This study investigated recent trends in the prevalence of obesity among Korean adolescents and explored socioeconomic disparities in obesity.
This study used annual self-reported data on height, weight, and socioeconomic information from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey from 2006 to 2020. With a 95.8% response rate, the sample consisted of 818,210 adolescents. Obesity prevalence was calculated according to 4 socioeconomic indicators (household income, father's educational attainment, mother's educational attainment, and urbanicity). Socioeconomic inequality was quantified using the relative index of inequality (RII).
The overall prevalence of obesity increased, doubling from 5.9% in 2006 to 11.7% in 2020. Boys and high school students showed a higher prevalence. The RIIs in household income and parental educational attainments significantly increased with time, indicating a growing inequality in obesity. Socioeconomic disadvantages had a greater influence on obesity among girls. The most recent RII values for boys were 1.25 for income, 1.79 for the father's education, and 1.45 for the mother's education, whereas the corresponding values for girls were 2.49, 3.17, and 2.62, respectively.
These findings highlight growing inequalities in adolescent obesity according to household income and parental educational attainments, especially for girls and middle schoolers.
本研究旨在调查韩国青少年肥胖流行率的近期趋势，并探讨肥胖的社会经济差异。
本研究使用了 2006 年至 2020 年韩国青少年风险行为网络调查的年度自我报告身高、体重和社会经济信息。该样本由 818210 名青少年组成，应答率为 95.8%。根据 4 项社会经济指标（家庭收入、父亲的教育程度、母亲的教育程度和城市性）计算肥胖流行率。使用相对指数不平等（RII）来量化社会经济不平等。
肥胖的总体流行率增加，从 2006 年的 5.9%增加到 2020 年的 11.7%。男孩和高中生的肥胖率较高。家庭收入和父母教育程度的 RII 随时间显著增加，表明肥胖的不平等程度不断扩大。社会经济劣势对女孩肥胖的影响更大。最近男孩的 RII 值分别为收入 1.25、父亲教育 1.79 和母亲教育 1.45，而女孩的相应值分别为 2.49、3.17 和 2.62。
这些发现强调了青少年肥胖在家庭收入和父母教育程度方面存在日益扩大的不平等现象，尤其是对女孩和中学生而言。
