Professor Lee Hae-jeong of Samsung Changwon Hospital Receives 'Outstanding Paper Award' from the Korean Pediatric Society

Children Face Higher Risk of Obesity When Parents Are Obese

Professor Lee Hae-jung, Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Changwon Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Song Jong-gu] Professor Lee Hae-jung of the Department of Pediatrics at Sungkyunkwan University Samsung Changwon Hospital received the Excellent Paper Award at the Autumn Academic Conference of the Korean Pediatric Society.

This award was given in recognition of the achievement and excellence of Professor Lee Hae-jung's paper titled "Global relationship between parent and child obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis."

Professor Lee conducted the study to understand the causes and consequences of childhood obesity and to determine whether there is a correlation between parent and child obesity worldwide.

The study found a significant association between overweight or obese parents and their children. Parents and children share about 50% of their genes, and when both parents are obese, the risk of obesity in children was higher than when only one parent (father or mother) was obese.

In fact, children with overweight or obese parents were 1.97 times more likely to be obese than children with parents of healthy weight. Additionally, the correlation between parent and child obesity was higher in Asia than in Europe or the Middle East. This is interpreted as a difference from Western societies that promote individualism, reflecting the collectivist family culture combined with Asian culture.

Professor Lee said, "This shows that the risk of childhood obesity is greatly influenced by the weight status of the parents. This indicates that parents can play an important role in preventing childhood obesity."

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