A STUDY ON THE COMPARISON OF THE ALTERATION OF BODY MASS INDEX (BMI) DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AMONG THE FILIPINO AND SOUTH KOREAN POPULATION FOR FUTURE HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT

The Philippines and South Korea are among countries still dealing with the COVID-19 disease pandemic (2022) with varying approaches such as frequent lockdowns and work from home leading to restricted movement and sedentariness. Hence, it is of interest to compare the Filipinos and Korean populations in terms of alterations in body mass index based on lifestyle factors such as gender, age, smoking, drinking, physical activities, COVID-19 history, and other reported health problems during the pandemic. Using Google survey, data from Filipinos and South Koreans were matched, based on each factor using the two-sample z-tests and one-way analyses of variance for BMI and two-tailed tests of population proportion for the number of respondents was done. Results showed that before and during the pandemic, Filipinos had statistically significant higher mean BMI in most factors, which may be due to differences in lifestyle, pandemic management, and stricter lockdown implementations by the government. A greater number of Filipinos suffered severe COVID-19 symptoms which may be associated with higher BMI and vaccination conflicts. A statistically significant increase in the cases of mental disorders (p = 0.0003) and the higher mean BMI of Filipinos with mental disorders than South Koreans (p = 0.0053) were notable during the pandemic. Thus, association between mental disorders and high BMI needs further investigation. The results warrant immediate intervention measures by stakeholders to deal with health situations arising from higher BMI and mental disorders in the Philippines and the lowering of BMI at unhealthy levels in the South Korea population.