Epidemiology and Health

Original Articles

Cardiovascular disease risk disparities between immigrants and native Koreans: a population-based study in Gwangju, Korea: Jung-Ho Yang, Yerin Choi, Ran Lee, Seong Eun Kim, Kyung-Hwa Park, Seong-Woo Choi, BongKyu Sun, Kyunghak Kim, Sun-Seog Kweon; Epidemiol Health. 2025;47:e2025067. Published online December 8, 2025; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4178/epih.e2025067

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Abstract Summary PDF: Abstract
OBJECTIVES
Korea is becoming a multiethnic society, with immigrants comprising nearly 5% of the population. Evidence on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among immigrants remains limited.
METHODS
We conducted a population-based study of 582 immigrants in Gwangju and 2,328 age-matched and gender-matched native Koreans (2022-2023). Immigrant data were obtained from direct health assessments, while native Korean data were drawn from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. CVD risk was estimated using the Framingham risk score (FRS) and pooled cohort equations (PCE). Logistic regression was employed to compare the odds of elevated risk (10-year CVD risk ≥7.5%), adjusting for socio-demographic and behavioral factors.
RESULTS
Immigrants had a higher prevalence of hypertension (37.3 vs. 16.1%), diabetes (11.5 vs. 5.6%), poor self-rated health (69.6 vs. 61.3%), and unmet medical needs (30.9 vs. 8.9%), as well as lower rates of health checkups and cancer screening (all p<0.001), compared to native Koreans. Elevated CVD risk was more frequent in immigrants (FRS, 31.4 vs. 20.8%; PCE, 33.6 vs. 22.8%). The adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 1.47 (1.14 to 1.88) for FRS and 1.49 (1.07 to 2.08) for PCE. Disparities were greatest among women, adults ≥40 years, uninsured people, low-income groups, and migrants from Central Asia, Russia, and Africa.
CONCLUSIONS
Immigrants in Korea face substantially higher CVD risk than native Koreans, particularly within socioeconomically vulnerable subgroups. Targeted prevention and policies addressing structural barriers are urgently needed.; Summary

Korean summary
국내 거주 이민자는 한국인보다 불리한 건강 상태와 더 높은 심혈관질환 위험을 보였다. 특히 여성, 고령자, 저소득층 등 취약 집단에서 격차가 두드러졌으며, 이는 구조적·사회경제적 요인이 이민자 건강 불평등에 기여함을 보여준다. 이러한 결과는 포용적 보건의료 정책과 맞춤형 예방 전략 마련의 필요성을 시사한다.

Key Message
Immigrants in South Korea face unmet healthcare needs, such as limited screening access, low disease awareness, and undertreatment of dyslipidemia. Our study shows consistently higher cardiovascular risk among immigrants compared with native Koreans, especially among women, older adults, uninsured individuals, and Central Asian migrants. These findings underscore the epidemiological importance of structural and socioeconomic disadvantages in shaping immigrant health disparities and emphasize the need for culturally tailored interventions and inclusive health policies to achieve cardiovascular health equity.

Comparative analysis of body mass index and obesity-related anthropometric indices for mortality prediction: a study of the Namwon and Dong-gu cohort in Korea: Ye Rim Kim, Min-Ho Shin, Young-Hoon Lee, Seong-Woo Choi, Hae-Sung Nam, Jeong-Ho Yang, Sun-Seog Kweon; Epidemiol Health. 2024;46:e2024066. Published online July 17, 2024; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4178/epih.e2024066

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2 Web of Science
3 Crossref

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
This study investigated the associations between several obesity-related anthropometric indices and mortality in middle-aged and elderly populations to compare the indices’ predictive ability with that of the body mass index (BMI).

METHODS

We analyzed data on 12 indices calculated from 19,805 community-based cohort participants (average age, 63.27 years; median follow-up, 13.49 years). Each index was calculated using directly measured values of height, weight, waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference (HC). We calculated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for each index using Cox regression and evaluated mortality prediction with the Harrell concordance index (c-index).

RESULTS

Adding anthropometric indices to the basic mortality model (c-index, 0.7723; 95% CI, 0.7647 to 0.7799) significantly increased the predictive power of BMI (c-index, 0.7735; 95% CI, 0.7659 to 0.7811), a body shape index (ABSI; c-index, 0.7735; 95% CI, 0.7659 to 0.7810), weight-adjusted waist index (WWI; c-index, 0.7731; 95% CI, 0.7656 to 0.7807), and waist to hip index (WHI; c-index, 0.7733; 95% CI, 0.7657 to 0.7809). The differences between the BMI model and the other 3 models were not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

In predicting all-cause mortality, the ABSI, WWI, and WHI models based on WC or HC had stronger predictive power than conventional risk factors but were not significantly different from the BMI model.

Summary

Korean summary
- 다수의 비만관련 신체계측지표들이 사망률을 유의하게 예측하였지만 체질량지수보다 통계적으로 우월하지는 않았다. - 복부둘레가 고려된 비만지표들이 사망률예측에 더 유용할 것으로 추정된다.

Key Message
- Several obesity indices provided predictive value for all-cause mortality but were not superior to body mass index - Obesity indices that take abdominal circumference into account are likely to be more useful for predicting mortality.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

A J-shaped association between weight-adjusted waist index and cardiovascular disease: a longitudinal study from the CHARLS database
Jiang Wang, Aizhang Zhu, Rui Zeng, Lihuan Chen, Fayi Xie, Ke Zhu, Tenghui Fan, Dongmei Ye, Yishan Wu, Wan Zhu, Jiahui Bian, Yuxu Huang, Shunrui Xiao, Mengxia Shi, Yi Xiao, Wenwu Zhang, Xiaoming Zhang
BMC Public Health.2025;[Epub] CrossRef
Development of an equation for estimating body fat mass using basic demographic and anthropometric indices
N.V. Zaverukha, N.V. Grygorieva, A.S. Musiienko, N.M. Koshel
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENDOCRINOLOGY (Ukraine).2025; 21(8): 845. CrossRef
Accumulated subcutaneous fat in abdomen is associated with long COVID-19 symptoms among non-hospitalized patients: a prospective observational study
Tingxin Li, Baoming He, Yuping Liu, Chen Wang
Frontiers in Medicine.2024;[Epub] CrossRef

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