Characteristics of Abdominal Obesity in Persons With Spinal Cord Injury

Objective To investigate the characteristics of community-dwelling spinal cord injury (SCI) persons with obesity, including diet, socioeconomic factors, weight reduction method, and frequency of body weight and abdominal circumference measurements. Methods We developed a questionnaire based on ‘the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2009’ . A total of 371 community-dwelling SCI persons were enrolled in this study. Inclusion criteria were SCI persons older than 20 years with more than 1 year elapsed since the injury. Trained investigators visited SCI persons’ home to complete the questionnaire and measure abdominal obesity (AO) as defined by the waist circumference. Results Prevalence of AO was 29.2% in SCI persons and 27.4% in the general population (GP), showing no significant difference. Education showed correlation with AO in both SCI persons and the GP. The injury level, type of injury and income did not show any correlation with AO in SCI persons. Only 28.8% and 48.8% of SCI persons measured their waist circumference and body weight within the past year, respectively. Also, SCI persons with AO thought that their body was less obese compared to persons with AO in the GP (p