ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health and Nutrition
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1653576
This article is part of the Research TopicPreventing Obesity-Related Degenerative Diseases Through Lifestyle ChangesView all 4 articles
Obesity, daily life restrictions, and health behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic in Korea
Provisionally accepted
- Asan Medical Center Department of Family Medicine, Songpa-gu, Republic of Korea
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Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic led to implementation of social distancing policies, possibly affecting lifestyle changes and restricting daily life. This study aimed to investigate the association between health behaviors or restrictions and obesity. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted with Korean adults (≥19 years) from the 2020 and 2021 Korean Community Health Surveys. Considering the guidelines for Korean obesity population, participants were grouped by body mass index (BMI): underweight (BMI <18.5 kg/m2), normal (BMI 18.5-24.9kg/m2), obesity I (BMI 25-29.9kg/m2), and obesity II (BMI ≥30 kg/m2). Health behavior changes and daily life restrictions were measured using a self-report questionnaire. Results Among men, daily life restrictions increased in obesity I (OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.07-1.13) and obesity II (OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.04-1.17) compared to the normal weight group. Decreased physical activity and increased fast food consumption tended to increase with obesity grade (p < 0.001). Among women, decreased physical activity was associated with both obesity I (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.11-1.17) and obesity II (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.12-1.28). Increased fast food consumption were also associated with obesity I (OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.07-1.17) and obesity II (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.13-1.35). Both factors tended to increase with obesity grade (p < 0.001). Discussion During the COVID-19 pandemic, the self-reported restrictions on daily life and unhealthy behaviors have progressively increased among people with obesity, depending on the severity of their obesity. Therefore, it is necessary to reinforce obesity prevention and management, particularly in vulnerable populations.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, Social distancing, daily life restrictions, Obesity, physical activity, fastfood intake
Received: 25 Jun 2025; Accepted: 10 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lee, Chang, Park and Lee. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jugn Ah Lee, ljunga00@naver.com
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