Yun Hwan Oh1,2, Ji Hyun Moon1,2, Mi Hee Kong1,3, Bumjo Oh4, Hyeon Ju Kim1,3

1Department of Family Medicine, Jeju Nation University Hospital, Jeju, Korea 2Department of Medicine, Graduate School, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea 3Department of Family Medicine, Jeju National University School of Medicine, Jeju, Korea 4Department of Family Medicine, SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center, Seoul, Korea


Background: Although obesity and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in elderly are well known to be associated with obesity and sitting time, it is unclear whether effect of sedentary lifestyle on HRQOL is affected by body mass index (BMI) or not. So we analyzed the relationship between sitting time and HRQOL according to BMI groups in elderly Korean.
Methods: Participants aged over 60 from the 6th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2014 and 2015) were included. Participants were classified as normal weight and overweight/obese groups. Mean sitting times were compared between groups according to the EuroQol 5 dimension (EQ-5D) And logistic regression analyses were performed.
Results: Men with mobility, usual activity, or pain/discomfort domain problem had longer sitting time. Women with a problem in every domain had longer sitting time. Overweight/obese women with problem showed longer sitting time. Odds ratios (ORs) of mobility, usual activity, pain or discomfort, and low EQ-5D score domain were increased regardless of BMI groups in men. But, ORs of all domains were increased only in overweight/obese group in women.
Conclusions: In elderly Korean, prolonged sitting time associated with decreased HRQOL. Impaired HRQOL is associated with increased sitting time regardless of BMI in men. But only overweight/obese group showed association between prolonged sitting time and impaired HRQOL in women. These results represents that decrease in quality of life according to the increase of the sitting time differs according to the BMI in elderly Korean women.
Korean J Health Promot 2017;17(4):209-218

Keywords: Aged, Sedentary lifestyle, Body mass index, Obesity, Quality of life