4075 Association between obesity, abdominal obesity and adiposity and the prevalence of atopic dermatitis in young Korean adults: The korea national health and nutrition examination survey, 2008–2010

Saturday, 17 October 2015
Hall D1 Foyer (Floor 3) (Coex Convention Center)

Ji Hyun Lee, MD, PhD , Department of Dermatology, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

Sang Soo Choi , Department of Dermatology, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

Kyung Do Han , Department of Biostatistics, College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea

Han Mi Jung , Department of Dermatology, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

Young Hoon Youn , Department of Dermatology, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

Jun Young Lee, MD, PhD , Department of Dermatology, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

Yong Gyu Park , Department of Biostatistics, College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea

Seung-Hwan Lee , Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

Young Min Park, MD, PhD , Department of Dermatology, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

Background : Whether obesity is a risk factor for atopic dermatitis (AD) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between obesity and AD in Korean young adults.

Methods: We included nationally representative data of 5,202 Korean adults aged 19–40 years, obtained from the cross-sectional Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2008–2010.

Results: AD prevalence exhibited a U-shape trend in relation to body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and total body fat (BF) percentage, especially in young adult women. Women with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2, WC ≥ 80 cm, and highest quartile (Q4) of total BF percentage had the highest prevalence of AD. The odds ratio (OR) for participants with both BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 and WC ≥ 80 cm was 3.29 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.71–3.55); therefore, having both general and abdominal obesity was considered prominent risk factors for AD in young women. After adjustment for confounding factors, including age, smoking, alcohol drinking, exercise, and vitamin D levels, high BMI (≥ 30 kg/m2) (OR = 4.241, 95% CI: 1.60–11.24), high WC (≥ 80 cm) (OR = 2.062, 95% CI: 1.08–3.94), and high BF percentage (Q4) (OR = 2.073, 95% CI: 1.22–3.52) were shown to be significantly associated with AD in young adult women.

Conclusions: In this large-scale nation-wide study in Korean adults, obesity was positively related with the presence of AD in women. Our findings suggest that weight management might help to prevent AD.