Childhood obesity on the rise during pandemic

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By Jung Da-min

The increase in childhood obesity in recent years has been especially accelerated due changes in lifestyle brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the medical community.

Medical experts said as children have been spending more time at home due to the pandemic, they have been less physically active and tend to be eating more snack food, especially late at night.

According to a study by Yi Dae-yong, a clinical associate professor at Chung-Ang University Hospital's department of pediatrics based on statistics from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service under the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of children and adolescents under the age of 20 who received hospital treatment for obesity has more than doubled in four years from 1,837 in 2015 to 3,812 in 2019. During the same period, the proportion of obese patients under the age of 20 also rose from 11.3 percent to 16.3 percent.

Experts warn that the increase in childhood obesity is being accelerated because of the pandemic, with a study by Lee Kee-hyoung, a professor at Korea University College of Medicine's department of pediatrics, reported at a conference hosted by the Korean Pediatric Society last year showing the body mass index (BMI) of 188 children it surveyed had increased during the three-month study period in the first half of 2020.