Background: Obesity is a risk factor for many health issues, as are metabolic abnormalities; all may affect mental health and one's health-related quality of life. Therefore, we investigated the association between obesity subtypes, considering both body weight and metabolic abnormalities, and the mental health and quality of life of a Korean population. Methods: We used data from the 2016 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a cross-sectional survey of Korean civilians, and data on a total of 6057 participants were analyzed. Obesity subtypes were classified as metabolically healthy but obese (MHO); metabolically abnormal but of normal weight (MANW); and metabolically abnormal and obese (MAO). Results: MHO was positively associated with mobility problems, pain/discomfort, and stress compared with metabolically healthy and of normal weight (MHNW) control. MAO was positively associated with problems in terms of not only mobility problems, pain/discomfort, and stress but also self-care and usual activity problems, and improper sleep duration, compared with the MHNW control. MANW showed no associations with the mental health problems or quality of life. Conclusions: With or without metabolic abnormalities, obesity is associated with mental health problems and decreased quality of life.
Keywords: mental health; metabolic syndrome; obesity; quality of life.