Factors affecting weight management in overweight or obese diabetic patients: the 2018-2021 Korea national health and nutrition examination survey.

Purpose: Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease that affects approximately 422 million people worldwide and leads to the death of 1.5 million people every year. The prevalence of diabetes among the population aged 30 or older in Korea has steadily increased since 2018, reaching 16.7% in 2020, with one in six adults having diabetes. This study was conducted to identify factors affecting weight management in overweight or obese patients with diabetes (OOPD) in Korea using data from the 2018-2022 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Therefore, the goal of this study is to analyze weight perception and factors related to weight perception and to identify factors that influence weight loss efforts among OOPD in Korea.

Methods: Socioeconomic characteristics, disease morbidity, weight perception, and weight loss efforts were investigated in 950 participants. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation, and logistic regression.

Results: Among the overweight or obese patients with diabetes, 24.4% perceived their weight to be normal, with a higher proportion among men (29.6%) than among women (14.6%). Weight loss efforts were 5.11 times (95% CI: 3.02-8.66) higher in people with overweight perceptions than in those with normal weight perceptions. Additionally, the rate was 1.54 times (95% CI: 1.06 2.25) higher in people with dyslipidemia than in those without dyslipidemia.

Conclusion: These results suggest that weight management approaches for overweight or obese patients with diabetes should be designed individually based on weight perception and disease morbidity.