Obesity Report: Distribution and Pattern by Age and Sex in Heart Failure Cohort over 10 Years in Korea

Obesity has been shown to be an independent risk factor for the development of heart failure (HF) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Here, we tried to analyze the distribution of obesity by age and sex in a 10-year sample cohort of newly diagnosed HF patients in Korea. A total of 35,869 patients newly diagnosed with HF between 2006 and 2015 from a nationally representative random sample of 1,000,000 people were included in this study. The data of age and sex for each subgroup according to body mass index were analyzed and compared with the general population. The obese group accounted for 43.3% of the total, and the frequency of obese patients was the highest among those in their 60s (4561). The proportion of obesity was the highest among those in their 40s (57.7%) and 30s (57.3%) in men and the highest among those in their 60s (52.2%) in women. The underweight group increases with age in both men and women, and the proportion of the high-aged group over 80 years old in the underweight group of women is significantly much higher than that of men. Conclusively, the proportion of obesity is higher than in the general population in HF patients. Obesity patterns analyzed by age were different for each sex.