Abstract
BackgroundAbdominal obesity (AO) is a medical condition in which excess body fat accumulates in the abdomen. It may cause adverse effects on health and result in reduced life expectancy or increased health problems. While various genetic approaches have explained the risks of AO in Western society, the Sasang constitution (SC) has been identified as a risk factor in Korean medicine. Different SC types are associated with different fat distribution, body shapes and susceptibility to diseases. We evaluated whether the SC type could be a risk for AO in a cross-sectional study among Koreans.MethodsIn total, 2,528 subjects aged over 30 years were recruited from 23 medical clinics. We collected waist circumference (WC), weight, height, and some clinical information for AO from the subjects. A Chi-square test and a one-way ANOVA were performed according to SC type (p < .05), while multiple logistic regression was used to produce odds ratios (ORs).ResultsThe rates of AO in Tae-eumin (TE), Soeumin (SE), and Soyangin (SY) types were 63.7%, 14.7%, and 32.8% in males and 84.8%, 41.7%, and 52.8% in females, respectively. The TE type was associated with increased AO prevalence compared with the SE and SY types in males (OR 1.79; 95% CI 1.02–3.15, p = 0.044 and OR 1.74; 95% CI 1.18–2.58, p = 0.006, respectively) and females (OR 1.51; 95% CI 1.03–2.23, p = 0.037 and OR 1.88; 95% CI 1.32–2.68, p < 0.001, respectively) after adjusting for age, BMI, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypertriglyceridemia, and low HDL cholesterol.ConclusionsThis study suggested that SC, particularly the TE type, might be significantly and independently associated with AO and could be considered a risk factor in predicting AO.
Highlights
Abdominal obesity (AO) is a medical condition in which excess body fat accumulates in the abdomen
Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems [1]
The male AO rate according to constitution was 63.7% in the TE type, 14.7% in the SE type and 32.8% in the SY type, and the female AO rate according to constitution was 84.8% in the TE type, 41.7% in the SE type and 52.8% in the SY type
Summary
Abdominal obesity (AO) is a medical condition in which excess body fat accumulates in the abdomen. It may cause adverse effects on health and result in reduced life expectancy or increased health problems. Different SC types are associated with different fat distribution, body shapes and susceptibility to diseases. Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems [1]. Sasang constitutional medicine (SCM) is a tailored Korean traditional medicine that classifies human beings into four constitutions: Taeyangin (TY), Soyangin (SY), Tae-eumin, (TE), and Soeumin (SE) [16]. Hypertension and diabetes mellitus (DM) were revealed to be associated with a specific Sasang constitution (SC) [19,20,21,22,23]
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