<sec>
<title>Objectives</title>
<p>The increase in the obesity rate in adult males in Korea is higher than countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and other Asian countries. We examined the trends and prevalence of major risk factors for cardiovascular disease by evaluating the weight status amongst adults from 2007 to 2015.</p></sec>
<sec>
<title>Methods</title>
<p>The study included 37,402 adults, who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The prevalence trends of cardiovascular disease risk factors were estimated for each body mass index group.</p></sec>
<sec>
<title>Results</title>
<p>From 2007 to 2015, significant increases in the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia were observed in normal weight adults (0.03 percentage point (%p), 0.06%p, and 0.13%p, respectively). Amongst the overweight and obese adults, a significant increase in the prevalence of hypercholesterolemia was observed, During this period, the prevalence of smoking decreased amongst obese adults and no significant changes in drinking habits and physical activity were noted across all body mass index groups.</p></sec>
<sec>
<title>Conclusion</title>
<p>The prevalence of obesity in Korean adults is increasing, and it is necessary to implement interventions to prevent further weight gain and obesity-associated cardiovascular disease.</p></sec>
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
Metabolic traits in obesity and normal BMI in industrialised countries: a multi-country analysis of national population-based studies
The effect of a nutrition program based on the Health Behavior Interaction Model on primary school students’ nutritional attitudes and behaviors Ayşe Burcu Başçı, Oya Nuran Emiroğlu, Bilge Kalanlar Journal of Public Health.2025; 33(6): 1237. CrossRef
Epidemiological trends and burden of gallbladder and biliary tract cancer in Belt and Road Initiative countries: A comprehensive analysis from the Global Burden of Disease 2021 database Hao Wu, Qian-Qian Feng, Jian-Hui Li, Hai-Yang Xie, Shi-Gui Yang, Shu-Sen Zheng Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Diseases International.2025; 24(6): 666. CrossRef
Influence of Varied Dietary Cholesterol Levels on Lipid Metabolism in Hamsters Chung-Hsiung Huang, Hung-Sheng Hsu, Meng-Tsan Chiang Nutrients.2024; 16(15): 2472. CrossRef
Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in middle-aged Lithuanian women in different body mass index and waist circumference groups Egidija Rinkūnienė, Emilija Petrulionytė, Vilma Dženkevičiūtė, Žaneta Petrulionienė, Augustė Senulytė, Roma Puronaitė, Aleksandras Laucevičius Primary Care Diabetes.2023; 17(1): 27. CrossRef
Thirty-six Year Trends in Mortality from Diseases of Circulatory System in Korea Jongmin Baek, Hokyou Lee, Hyeok-Hee Lee, Ji Eun Heo, So Mi Jemma Cho, Hyeon Chang Kim Korean Circulation Journal.2021; 51(4): 320. CrossRef
The identification of established modifiable mid-life risk factors for cardiovascular disease which contribute to cognitive decline: Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA) Yebeen Ysabelle Boo, Otto-Emil Jutila, Meghan A. Cupp, Logan Manikam, Sung-Il Cho Aging Clinical and Experimental Research.2021; 33(9): 2573. CrossRef
A Healthy Diet Rich in Calcium and Vitamin C Is Inversely Associated with Metabolic Syndrome Risk in Korean Adults from the KNHANES 2013–2017 Sunmin Park, Kyungjin Kim, Byung-Kook Lee, Jaeouk Ahn Nutrients.2021; 13(4): 1312. CrossRef
Classification and Prediction on the Effects of Nutritional Intake on Overweight/Obesity, Dyslipidemia, Hypertension and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Using Deep Learning Model: 4–7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Hyerim Kim, Dong Hoon Lim, Yoona Kim International Journal of Environmental Research an.2021; 18(11): 5597. CrossRef
Trends in cardiovascular disease risk factors by BMI category among adults in England, 2003‐2018 Shaun Scholes, Linda Ng Fat, Jennifer S. Mindell Obesity.2021; 29(8): 1347. CrossRef
Precision Medicine and Cardiovascular Health: Insights from Mendelian Randomization Analyses Wes Spiller, Keum Ji Jung, Ji-Young Lee, Sun Ha Jee Korean Circulation Journal.2020; 50(2): 91. CrossRef
Association of the Healthy Eating Index with Estimated Cardiovascular Age in Adults from the KNHANES 2013–2017 Sunmin Park, Kyungjin Kim, Byung-Kook Lee, Jaeouk Ahn Nutrients.2020; 12(10): 2912. CrossRef
Objectives
This study, different from the past researches, has been conducted in all age groups to understand the association between air pollutants, pollen risk indexes, and outpatients with allergic rhinitis (AR), asthma, and atopic dermatitis (AD). Methods
Data on air pollutants, pollen risk indexes, and outpatients with each disease were collected from 2003 through 2011 to verify the association between them. All data are time-series materials that have been observed by time (day) and region, and are in a nonlinear shape. In particular, the total number of outpatients per day is a count data that had a Poisson distribution as the response variable. SAS 9.3 was used to make a statistical model, generalized additive model, with lag effects for the analysis. Results
For allergic diseases during spring (April–May) and fall (September-October), a significant association was shown between the variables of air pollutants, pollens, and the number of outpatients. Especially, the estimates of NO<sub>2</sub> [AR (43.00967 ± 0.11284), asthma (52.01837 ± 0.06452), AD (52.01837 ± 0.06452), <i>p</i> < 0.001] in spring and SO<sub>2</sub> [AR (43.00967 ± 0.11284), asthma (52.01837 ± 0.06452), AD (52.01837 ± 0.06452), <i>p</i> < 0.001] in fall were highly significant and showed a positive association with all diseases. Conclusion
Domestically and even internationally, various studies on the allergic diseases are being conducted. However, not many studies related to similar studies. In the need of creating grounds to back up these efforts, additional studies on allergic diseases, as well as researches utilizing pollen data, air pollution data, and claims data provided by the Health Insurance Corporation that has no problem in the representativeness of the data that have close relationships to the allergic disease will be needed.
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
Air Pollution and Skin Diseases: A Systematic Review of Epidemiological Evidence Nidhi Singh, Tamara Schikowski, Jean Krutmann American Journal of Clinical Dermatology.2026; 27(2): 261. CrossRef
Validation of the pollen resilience index as an integrated pollen–pollution–heat stress indicator for allergic rhinitis symptoms Ingrida Šaulienė, Laura Šukienė, Gintautas Daunys, Lukas Vaitkevičius, Odilija Rudzevičienė, Rūta Dubakienė, Edvinas Stonevičius Atmospheric Pollution Research.2026; 17(7): 103033. CrossRef
Current status and challenges in climate change and chronic disease research in the Republic of Korea: A scoping review Sungeun Woo, Hansol Lee, Yuri Lee Journal of Climate Change Research.2026; 17(2): 341. CrossRef
High tree pollen levels and low temperatures increased the utilization of atopic dermatitis-related medical services in children residing in a tropical urban area (San Juan, Puerto Rico) Eric Miranda-Valentin, Imar Mansilla-Rivera, Claudia P. Amaya-Ardila, Pablo A. Méndez-Lázaro, Loyda S. Torres-Berrios, Benjamín Bolaños-Rosero Aerobiologia.2025; 41(2): 101. CrossRef
Allergic Asthma in the Municipalities of the Palynological Network of the Community of Madrid and Its Interrelation with the Concentration of Tree Pollen and Atmospheric Pollutants Javier Chico-Fernández, Esperanza Ayuga-Téllez Atmosphere.2025; 16(4): 425. CrossRef
Climate Conditions, Weather Changes, and Air Pollutants and Atopic Dermatitis Megan Park, Samiha T. Mohsen, Talia Katz, Siddhartha Sood, Sheena Maureen T. Sy, Bram Rochwerg, Aaron M. Drucker JAMA Dermatology.2025; 161(8): 828. CrossRef
Study of the Interrelations of the Concentrations of Six Tree Pollen Types and Six Atmospheric Pollutants with Rhinitis and Allergic Conjunctivitis in the Community of Madrid Javier Chico-Fernández, Esperanza Ayuga-Téllez Applied Sciences.2024; 14(7): 2965. CrossRef
Trends in the Use of Air Quality Indexes in Asthma Studies Angie Daniela Barrera-Heredia, Carlos Alfonso Zafra-Mejía, Alejandra Cañas Arboleda, María José Fernández Sánchez, Liliana López-Kleine, Adriana Rojas Moreno Atmosphere.2024; 15(7): 847. CrossRef
Relationship between periodontal disease and dizziness in Taiwanese adults: A nationwide population-based cohort study Fu-Mei Huang, Ci-Wen Luo, Shiuan-Shinn Lee, Yung-Chuan Ho, Yi-Ching Li, Yu-Chao Chang, Yu-Hsiang Kuan Medicine.2023; 102(8): e32961. CrossRef
Air pollution and global healthcare use for atopic dermatitis: A systematic review R. P. Fadadu, E. Chee, A. Jung, J. Y. Chen, K. Abuabara, M. L. Wei Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and.2023; 37(10): 1958. CrossRef
Associations of particulate matter with atopic dermatitis and chronic inflammatory skin diseases in South Korea T. H. Park, S. Park, M. K. Cho, S. Kim Clinical and Experimental Dermatology.2022; 47(2): 325. CrossRef
Association between Concentration of Air Pollutants and Prevalence of Inflammatory Sinonasal Diseases: A Nationwide Cross-sectional Study Munsoo Han, Soo Jeong Choi, Yujin Jeong, Kijeong Lee, Tae Hoon Lee, Sang Hag Lee, Tae Hoon Kim American Journal of Rhinology & Allergy.2022; 36(5): 649. CrossRef
Outdoor Air Pollution and Indoor Window Condensation Associated with Childhood Symptoms of Allergic Rhinitis to Pollen Yingjie Liu, Chan Lu, Yuguo Li, Dan Norbäck, Qihong Deng International Journal of Environmental Research an.2022; 19(13): 8071. CrossRef
Influence of environmental drivers on allergy to pollen grains in a case study in Spain (Madrid): meteorological factors, pollutants, and airborne concentration of aeroallergens Martha Cabrera, Javier Subiza, Enrique Fernández-Caldas, Belén Garzón García, Stella Moreno-Grau, José Luis Subiza Environmental Science and Pollution Research.2021; 28(38): 53614. CrossRef
Short term physician visits and medication prescriptions for allergic disease associated with seasonal tree, grass, and weed pollen exposure across the United States Shubhayu Saha, Ambarish Vaidyanathan, Fiona Lo, Claudia Brown, Jeremy J. Hess Environmental Health.2021;[Epub] CrossRef
Interactions Between Air Pollution and Pollen Season for Rhinitis Using Mobile Technology: A MASK-POLLAR Study Annabelle Bédard, Mikhail Sofiev, Sylvie Arnavielhe, Josep M. Antó, Judith Garcia-Aymerich, Michel Thibaudon, Karl Christian Bergmann, Ruta Dubakiene, Anna Bedbrook, Gabrielle L. Onorato, Isabella Annesi-Maesano, Jean-Louis Pépin, Daniel Laune, Stéphane Z The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In.2020; 8(3): 1063. CrossRef
Atmospheric pollutants and their association with olive and grass aeroallergen concentrations in Córdoba (Spain) Maria Pilar Plaza, Purificación Alcázar, José Oteros, Carmen Galán Environmental Science and Pollution Research.2020; 27(36): 45447. CrossRef
The assessment of atmospheric conditions and constituents on allergenic pollen loads in Lithuania I. Sauliene, L. Sukiene, V. Kazlauskiene Journal of Environmental Management.2019; 250: 109469. CrossRef
Luftverschmutzung und atopisches Ekzem Ursula Krämer, Heidrun Behrendt Der Hautarzt.2019; 70(3): 169. CrossRef
The economics of urban afforestation: Insights from an integrated bioeconomic-health model Benjamin A. Jones, Shana M. McDermott Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.2018; 89: 116. CrossRef
Urban Trees and Water Use in Arid Climates: Insights from an Integrated Bioeconomic-Health Model Benjamin A. Jones, John Fleck Water Economics and Policy.2018; 04(04): 1850022. CrossRef
Prevalence of pollen‐induced allergic rhinitis with high pollen exposure in grasslands of northern China X.‐Y. Wang, T.‐T. Ma, X.‐Y. Wang, Y. Zhuang, X.‐D. Wang, H.‐Y. Ning, H.‐Y. Shi, R.‐L. Yu, D. Yan, H.‐D. Huang, Y.‐F. Bai, G.‐L. Shan, B. Zhang, Q.‐K. Song, Y.‐F. Zhang, T.‐J. Zhang, D.‐Z. Jia, X.‐L. Liu, Z.‐X. Kang, W.‐J. Yan, B.‐T. Yang, X.‐Z. Bao, S.‐H. Allergy.2018; 73(6): 1232. CrossRef
Decomposition Analysis of the Factors that Influence Energy Related Air Pollutant Emission Changes in China Using the SDA Method Shichun Xu, Wenwen Zhang, Qinbin Li, Bin Zhao, Shuxiao Wang, Ruyin Long Sustainability.2017; 9(10): 1742. CrossRef
First
Prev
