What is the Most Reliable Obesity Iindex in Korean Elderly Population

Background: Obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. However, there is no confirmed index for diagnosing obesity in elderly population. Thus, we examined the accuracy of the currently used obesity indices and tried to find the most reliable index reflecting obesity among elderly Korean population. Methods: We analyzed the data from the Fourth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The subjects of this study included elderly population of 1,193 people over 60 years of age. We analyzed the correlations among the appendicular skeletal muscle mass, truncal fat mass, total muscle mass, waist circumference, BMI, and total body fat percentage. The relevance between each obesity index was evaluated with each metabolic markers, such as fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, HDL-C, triglycerides, LDL-C, and HOMA-IR. Results: No significant correlation was found between BMI and total body fat percentage although significant correlation was noted between BMI and waist circumference. Total body fat percentage correlated with appendicular skeletal muscle mass, truncal fat mass, and total muscle mass. Waist circumference showed significant correlations with fasting plasma glucose, HDL-C, triglycerides, and HOMA-IR. BMI correlated with HDL-C, triglycerides, and HOMA-IR. In females, BMI had significant correlations with fasting plasma glucose and total cholesterol. Total body fat percentage, appendicular skeletal muscle mass, truncal fat mass, and total muscle mass failed to show any significant correlations with metabolic indices.