Visceral Fat Reduction and Adherence to Exercise and Weight Control in Korean Male Workers with Metabolic Syndrome: A Preliminary Finding

Monday, 30 July 2012

Chun-Ja Kim, RN, PhD1
Hyung-Ran Park, RN, PhD1
Moon-Sun Kim, RN2
(1)Department of Nursing, Ajou University College of Nursing, Suwon, South Korea
(2)College of Nursing, Ajou University, Suwon, South Korea

Learning Objective 1: To examine adherence to exercise and weight control during a post-core program for Korean workers with metabolic syndrome

Learning Objective 2: To examine effect of a post-core program on visceral fat reduction among Korean workers with metabolic syndrome

Purpose: Exercise and weight control are essential and effective components of the treatment of metabolic syndrome and abdominal obesity. However, more than half of those who participate in a core program including regular exercise and weight control stop it within 3 to 6 months. This pilot study examined effect of visceral fat reduction and adherence to exercise and weight control during a 6-month post-core program of those who participated in a 16-week core program in Korean workers with metabolic syndrome.

Methods: A prospective, pretest and posttest, quasi-experimental design enrolled a convenience sample of 24 Korean workers with metabolic syndrome. Visceral fat mass was measured by body composition analyzer and adherence to exercise and weight control was monitored using an accelerometer and logs. The workers in the intervention group participated in a 6-month post-core program including monthly based one-on-one counseling and mobile phone text message. Paired t-test and McNemar test were used for analyzing the effects of differences between pretest-posttest on visceral fat reduction and adherence to exercise and weight control.

Results: The percentages of those who successfully kept targeted behavioral modification were 88.9% for exercise, 66.7% for dietary control, and 87.5% for weight at 6-month. The post-core group showed significant the visceral body fat (-4.77cm, p <.01) at 6-month, compared with baseline data at 16-week of core program.

Conclusion: This study yielded evidence for the beneficial impact of the 6-month post-core program for Korean workers with metabolic syndrome on visceral fat reduction and adherence to exercise and weight control.

This work was support by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2011-0003352) to CK.