Bumjo Oh

Sujeong Han, Bumjo Oh, Sae Kyung Joo. Sex Gender Biomed 2026;1:262-9. https://doi.org/10.65400/SGBM.2026.1.3.262

Purpose: This study was performed to synthesize current evidence on evaluating and treating obesity in women across selected life stages relevant to women’s health nursing practice.Methods: For this invited narrative review, targeted searches of PubMed and guideline and regulatory sources available through July 2026 identified current diagnostic and staging frameworks, Korean and international guidance, pharmacotherapy evidence, official prescribing information, and literature on reproductive and menopausal physiology for synthesis. Sources were selected purposively rather than systematically.Results: The Lancet criteria for clinical obesity, the Edmonton Obesity Staging System, and a four-domain assessment of mechanical, metabolic, mental, and social milieu factors offer complementary ways to confirm adiposity, diagnose illness, stage severity, and assess health beyond body mass index. Medication selection should be based primarily on approved indications, efficacy, safety, comorbidities, reproductive plans, access, and patient preferences; phenotype-guided matching remains investigational. Care for women of reproductive age should address polycystic ovary syndrome, pregnancy intention, and the oral hormonal contraceptive precautions specific to tirzepatide. During pregnancy and lactation, appropriate weight trajectories and medication safety for the individual agent take precedence over pharmacologic weight loss. Declining estradiol during the menopausal transition is associated with central fat redistribution, while lean mass loss also reflects aging; an independent effect of follicle-stimulating hormone remains unestablished. Menopausal hormone therapy should be prescribed for established menopausal indications rather than for weight loss.Conclusion: Obesity care for women should integrate disease-based assessment, individualized treatment supported by evidence, medication counseling tailored to life stage, nonstigmatizing communication, and shared decision-making. Nurses should support assessment, education, monitoring, and coordination within their scope of practice.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between physical activity (PA) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Korean postmenopausal women and determine whether this relationship differs according to the presence of chronic diseases. Methods: This population-based, cross-sectional study used data from 7,846 postmenopausal women who participated in the 2016-2020 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. PA was assessed using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire and categorized according to total intensity (low, moderate, and high) and domains (occupational, leisure time, and commuting). The HRQoL was evaluated using the EuroQol 5-dimension index and its five domains. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratios and 95% CIs for high HRQoL according to the PA levels and domains stratified according to chronic disease status. Results: Higher PA levels were significantly associated with better HRQoL, particularly in women with chronic diseases (moderate PA: odds ratio = 1.35, 95% CI =1.17-1.57). In this group, greater walking time and lower sedentary time were positively associated with HRQoL, whereas occupational PA showed an inverse relationship. Leisure time and commuting PA were positively correlated with HRQoL, whereas no significant associations were observed among healthy women, except in the mobility domain. Conclusions: Among postmenopausal women, PA, particularly light-to-moderate activities such as walking and active commuting, was associated with higher HRQoL; stronger effects were observed in those with chronic diseases. These findings highlight the importance of promoting feasible and context-appropriate PA and reducing sedentary behaviors in postmenopausal women to improve their overall well-being.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted preventive healthcare services worldwide, raising concerns about missed diagnoses of chronic diseases. South Korea’s national health screening program experienced a substantial decline in participation during 2020. This study investigated how changes in screening rates influenced chronic disease detection and what these shifts reveal about the resilience of the national health system. Methods: Using the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency-National Health Insurance Service (K-COV-N) database, we analyzed trends in national health screening participation (2010–2020) and new diagnoses of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia before (2019) and during (2020) the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyses were stratified by sex and 10-year age groups to partially control for confounding factors. Relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for newly diagnosed chronic diseases were calculated for individuals who underwent health checkups and those who did not. Results: Health screening participation dropped from 75.4% in 2019 to 68.7% in 2020. Despite this decrease, new diagnoses of chronic diseases increased by approximately 550,000 cases in 2020 compared with 2019. Hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia all showed higher relative risks among individuals who underwent screenings than among those who did not. Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases declined, while heart failure increased slightly. Conclusion: The decline in preventive health screening did not correspond to a decline in chronic disease detection, suggesting a behavioral and systemic shift toward alternative diagnostic pathways. These findings underscore a resilient yet uneven health system, revealing both adaptive strengths and structural vulnerabilities that maintain continuity of essential services during public health crises.

Purpose: This study compared key health indicators of poor, older urban adults attending a free clinic with those of the general older population, using data from the 2023 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Methods: This cross-sectional comparative study included 60 adults aged ≥60 years who attended the Raphael Nanum Homeless Clinic in Seoul. Participants completed a questionnaire, underwent anthropometric assessment, and provided fasting blood samples for measurement of total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, and triglycerides (TG). Obesity, current smoking, monthly alcohol use, poor self-rated health, and strength exercise (≥ 2 days/week) were defined according to 2023 KNHANES criteria and compared with age-matched 2023 KNHANES estimates for adults aged ≥ 60 years using independent t-tests and two-proportion z-tests. Results: Participants were predominantly men (80.0%) with a mean age of 79.9 years; 70.0% reported no regular income, and 46.7% rated their health as poor. Compared with their 2023 KNHANES counterparts, the clinic group had a higher prevalence of obesity (50.0% vs. 35.0%), particularly among men, and a more atherogenic lipid profile characterized by higher LDL-cholesterol despite similar total cholesterol levels and lower TG. The prevalence of current smoking (3.3% vs. 10.6%) and monthly alcohol use (31.7% vs. 53.0%) was significantly lower, whereas participation in strength exercise was low in both groups, with no significant differences observed. Conclusion: Poor, older urban adults exhibited multidimensional health disparities, including obesity, adverse lipid profiles, and markedly poorer self-rated health, despite lower levels of smoking and alcohol consumption. Community-based interventions targeting nutrition, physical activity, and chronic disease management are needed to reduce health inequalities in this vulnerable population.

Obesity is a major global health issue and a leading contributor to cardiovascular disease (CVD). While traditional research has emphasized diet and physical inactivity, psychological factors, particularly emotional eating, are increasingly recognized as important contributors to metabolic and cardiovascular health. Emotional eating, defined as eating in response to negative emotions, represents a maladaptive coping mechanism that promotes excessive caloric intake, visceral fat accumulation, and metabolic dysregulation. Chronic stress activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, leading to increased cortisol secretion and appetite, while recurrent emotional eating behaviors reinforce this biological pathway and contribute to insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and systemic inflammation. Together, these mechanisms link psychological stress to cardiometabolic dysfunction and ultimately to increased CVD risk. Although direct evidence linking emotional eating to clinical CVD outcomes remains limited, accumulating evidence supports its role as a behavioral mediator connecting psychological stress, metabolic abnormalities, and cardiovascular risk. Effective management of emotional eating requires an integrated approach that combines cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness-based strategies, stress management, healthy lifestyle modification, and pharmacological treatment for obesity when indicated. Recognizing emotional eating as a modifiable behavioral risk factor may open new opportunities for early prevention and holistic management of CVD.

Background: Depression is a prevalent mental health disorder that presents substantial public health challenges. Emerging evidence underscores the role of dietary patterns in mitigating depressive symptoms. This study investigated the association between diet quality, assessed using the Recommended Food Score (RFS), and depressive symptoms, evaluated with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), in a sample of Korean adults.Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from 19,786 participants recruited from a general hospital in Korea, all of whom completed the RFS and PHQ-9 assessments. General characteristics and anthropometric indices were recorded. Statistical analyses included chi-square tests and binary logistic regression to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals for depressive symptoms according to RFS scores, adjusting for potential confounders.Results: Higher RFS scores were associated with reduced odds of depression in univariate (OR, 0.59; P<0.001) and multivariate (OR, 0.72; P<0.001) analyses. Sociodemographic factors, including older age, higher education, marital status, higher income, professional occupation, and regular exercise, were linked to decreased odds of depression. Conversely, female sex, current smoking, and alcohol consumption were associated with increased odds.Conclusion: The findings reveal an inverse relationship between diet quality and depressive symptoms among Korean adults, emphasizing the potential of dietary improvements in mental health promotion. Sociodemographic factors significantly influence depression risk. Future studies should adopt longitudinal designs incorporating a wider range of variables to elucidate these complex interactions.

Background: With advances in cancer treatment, the number of cancer survivors has increased, bringing attention to long-term complications such as alterations in bone mineral density (BMD). Although survivors are at elevated risk for low BMD, prior studies have focused on specific cancer types and relied on traditional regression models, which are limited in capturing complex inter-variable relationships. This study aimed to examine the causal relationships among factors affecting BMD in cancer survivors and age-matched controls using causal Bayesian network (CBN) modeling. Methods: Data from the 2010-2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) V were analyzed. We included 227 cancer survivors and 681 age- and sex-matched controls. Associations between BMD and variables such as age, sex, body composition, smoking, fracture history, and vitamin D were assessed using linear regression. A CBN model was then applied to evaluate probabilistic dependencies and potential causal relationships between variables and femoral neck BMD. Results: Among all participants, age, sex, smoking, fracture history, body fat percentage, muscle mass, and cancer history were significantly associated with femoral neck BMD. In cancer survivors, age (β = −0.032, P < .001) and sex (β = −0.680, P < .001) showed negative associations with BMD, whereas higher muscle mass (β = 0.073, P < .001) was a strong positive predictor. Smoking (β = −0.779, P = .005) and previous fractures (β = −0.507, P = .003) were also linked to lower BMD. The CBN model identified direct effects of age and muscle mass on BMD, with indirect effects from sex, smoking, and fracture history. Among women aged >60 years, greater muscle mass appeared particularly protective. Conclusion: Causal Bayesian network modeling identified muscle mass as a key modifiable factor influencing BMD among cancer survivors. These findings highlight the importance of muscle-preserving lifestyle interventions, including resistance exercise and adequate protein intake, in survivorship care. The CBN approach provides a framework for identifying individualized risk pathways and can support personalized bone-health management strategies in clinical practice.

We conducted a comprehensive genetic investigation of obesity in a cohort of 93,673 Korean individuals, categorized by body mass index and waist circumference using Korean-specific and international criteria. To explore the genetic architecture of obesity and its related comorbidities, we performed genome-wide association studies and constructed polygenic risk scores (PRSs) using both conventional single-trait and advanced multiple-trait models, including the PRSsum approach. Our analyses identified genome-wide significant loci and demonstrated their higher heritability for general obesity than for abdominal obesity, and for moderate obesity than for severe obesity. East Asian populations showed stronger genetic correlations between abdominal obesity and obesity-related diseases. Both single-trait and multiple-trait PRSs stratified individuals by risk, with low-PRS individuals exhibiting reduced risk for obesity, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes, while high-PRS individuals displayed elevated risk, particularly under the multiple-trait model. Interaction and mediation analyses revealed distinct genetic pathways through which obesity contributes to disease development. Collectively, our findings revealed key loci and shared genetic mechanisms linking obesity and its comorbidities in the Korean population. These insights highlight the value of multiple-trait PRS models and underscore the importance of ancestry-specific genetic research for addressing the obesity epidemic.