Factors Related to Successful Weight Reduction among Subjects who Tried to Reduce Their Weight for 1 Year: Data from the 2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Abstract

Objectives Behaviors of weight control for obesity, which is closely related to all causes death, are affected by the subjective perception of obesity, degree of body mass index (BMI), and the state of multiple chronic diseases. The purpose of this study was to identify factors related to successful weight reduction among subjects who tried to reduce their weight. Methods This study was conducted using data of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2015). Among 1,687 subjects who answered “I tried to reduce my weight for 1 years.”, the subjects who answered “I have lost weight” in the question of change in weight were the group of successful weight reduction. We compared gender, demographics, lifestyle, obesity, morbidity, and weight control methods between successful weight reduction group and control group. Results Two hundreds sixty (15.4%) among total subjects reported successful weight reduction. Young age (odds ratio= 1.02, 95% confidence interval= 1.00-1.04), aerobic exercise activity (1.36, 1.01-1.81), subjective perception of obesity (0.68, 0.47-0.97), obesity by BMI (0.62, 0.43-0.89), history of diabetes (2.35, 1.28-4.32) and prescriptive anti-obesity agents (3.44, 1.80-6.57) were associated with successful weight reduction. Conclusions In order to achieve successful weight reduction, intervention strategies based on this results will be needed. Key words: Body weight change, Weight reduction program, Obesity, Anti-obesity agents, Diabetes mellitus