Letter: Characterization of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes according to Body Mass Index: Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2007 to 2011 (Endocrinol Metab 2015;30:514-21, Dong-Hwa Lee et al.).

Diabetes mellitus and obesity are major risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality [1]. According to the Diabetes Fact Sheet in Korea 2013, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in adults 30 years older was 12.4% and 44.4% of diabetic patients were overweight or obese (i.e., a mean body mass index [BMI] ≥25.0 kg/m2) and the awareness rate of diabetes was 72% in 2011. Ha and Kim [2] reported that the prevalence of diabetes in Korea is increasingly shifting to younger and obese people. However, there have been few studies of the body mass characteristics of type 2 diabetes in Korea.

Recently, Lee et al. [3] evaluated the characteristics of type 2 diabetes according to BMI using 2007 to 2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data and demonstrated that Koreans with type 2 diabetes had lower BMI compared with patients in Western countries. They also found that type 2 diabetic patients with higher BMI were associated with lower awareness and control rate of diabetes and higher CVD prevalence.

Patients with type 2 diabetes or patients with obesity are at an increased risk of developing CVDs. Therefore, we consider CVD prevalence according to BMI, for both non-diabetic and diabetic populations together.

Age, sex, and BMI are important factors for the prevalence, awareness, and treatment rates of diabetes [24]. The proportion of obese subjects may be different from young age and old age with diabetes. Regarding the recognition, treatment and control rate of diabetes, we consider the influencing factors such as age, sex, and BMI.