Impact of obesity on medical problems and quality of life in Taiwan.

• Main Authors: Wen-Ling Tsai, 蔡文玲
• Other Authors: sheng-fung Lin
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2005
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/62200679537714192128

博士 === 高雄醫學大學 === 醫學研究所博士班 === 94 === Abstract With achievements in economics and changing habits, the annual prevalence of obesity is increasing in Taiwan. According to the reports for people from the Western countries, obesity has become a threatening issue in medical problem as well as in health-related quality of life (HRQL). However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no comprehensive investigation for Taiwanese in this issue, although, which has become a challenging problem in public health in this country. We hypothesized that the anthropometric definition of obesity should be lower in Taiwanese compared with Caucasian, obesity will not only have impact on the medical problems but also the HRQL in Taiwanese, and such impact might be different among Taiwanese with different shapes of obesity. This cross-sectional study surveyed 6318 Taiwanese (3540 men and 2778 women) attending health screen centers in Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital from Jan. 2002 to Jun. 2003. Among them, 4798 cases (2846 men and 1952 women) completed the SF-36 in Taiwan Chinese version. Information of fifteen medical problems, HRQL outcomes, and anthropometric data was collected and analyzed. Our results are the followings: 1. The optimal cut-off values to define obesity by body mass index and waist circumference are 24.7-25.1Kg/m2 and 81.5-83.0 cm in men, and 23.6-24.7 Kg/m2 and 76.0-80.5cm in women, respectively. These data are obviously lower than the WHO criteria for Caucasian. 2. We observed a positive BMI effect on some medical problems for people in Taiwan. This result indicate that Taiwanese people, who are overweight or obese, are at an increased risk of developing a medical problem such as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, type II diabetes, hyperuricemia, pulmonary function impairment, fatty liver disease, and osteoarthritis. 3. A positive BMI effect on HRQL was also observed for people in Taiwan. Severely obese Taiwanese are prone to have poorer physical functioning, especially in daily physical activities. 4. The different effects between general and central obesity on medical problems and HRQL were not significantly observed.