Sang Joon An1, Eun-Jung Park2, Ji-Hyeon Cheon3, Hee-Jin Hwang4, Min-Jeong Kim5

1Department of Neurology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea 2Department of Family Medicine, Cheil General Hospital and Women’s Healthcare Center, Dankook University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea 3Chungdam i Plastic Surgery, Uijeongbu, Korea 4Department of Family Medicine, Catholic Kwandong University International St. Mary’s Hospital, Incheon, Korea 5Mihana Clinic, Yongin, Korea


Background: Recently, the prevalence of obesity and socioeconomic costs stemming from obesity are increasing steeply. Obesity, in particular, has a highly polarization caused by income levels. Obesity in low-income patients is expected to become a serious social problem in the future. This study aims to observe the effects of consistent consultation and drug therapy during a six months period, and to develop the treatment process of obesity for low-income people.
Methods: The body weight, waist circumference, body mass index (BMI), and blood pressure (BP) was measured every 2 weeks, and laboratory blood tests with a survey including Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and eating behavior index was checked at 0, 3, and 6 months. Paired t-test and linear mixed model was done to evaluate the difference between pre-treatment data and post-treatment data.
Results: Twenty-one patients (2 males, median age [interquartile range] of 39 years [29-46]) were analyzed. There were statistically significant reductions of body weight (P<0.01), BMI (P<0.01), waist circumference (P<0.01), low-density lipoprotein (P=0.01), BDI-I (P<0.01), eating behavior index (P<0.01). There was no statistically significant difference of safety outcome of the BP and blood tests.
Conclusions: Proper obesity treatment of obese patients of low socioeconomic status was meaningful enough to affect depression and eating patterns as well as reducing body weight and decreased waist circumference.
Korean J Health Promot 2017;17(2):54-63

Keywords: Obesity, Socioeconomic Factor, Korea, Depression, Feeding behavior