[Correlations among body weight, life style and health status in Korean adults]

Correlations among body weight and sociodemographic factors, including life-style were tested as social determinants of health in a sample of 5,201 adults in Korea. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which sociodemographic variables and life-style associated health behaviors explain body weight distribution. A second aim was to explain the relation of body weight and health status to stress the importance of body weight as an early risk indicator of health status. The canonical correlation between the weight distribution (underweight and overweight) and the independent variables was 0.29, 17% of the total variance was explained. Perceived health level represented the highest contribution (canonical coefficient 0.82) to body weight. Sociodemographic factors such as sex, economic status, and life-style factors such as smoking, exercise, regular meals and sleep showed comparatively high contributions to body weight. The relevance of body weight for health status including the rate of chronic disease and the rate of medical utilization was significant. Especially, underweight was clarified as being more important than overweight to morbidity level and medical utilization. These findings suggest that perceived body weight is an important indicator of health status and is thus a valuable variable to be considered for nursing intervention and health education related to the promotion of health.