Association between pterygium and obesity status in a South Korean population

This study examined the association between pterygium and obesity status by examining a nationally representative sample of South Korean adults. This population-based, cross-sectional study comprised 16,234 adults (aged ≥19 years) who had participated in the fifth annual Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2010 to 2012. The enrolled subjects underwent interviews, clinical examinations, and laboratory investigations. We compared body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC), according to the presence of pterygium. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the associations of each obesity parameter with pterygium after adjusting for age, smoking status, alcohol consumption, physical activities, educational levels, outdoor occupation, area of residence, and daily sun exposure duration. The prevalence rate of pterygium tended to increase as the BMI increased only in women, and both male and female subjects with higher WC were likely to have more pterygium in both sexes. In the multivariate analysis, overweight women had an odd ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval (CI)) of 1.16 (0.86-1.55) and obese women had an OR (95% CI) of 1.35 (1.02-1.77) compared to women with normal weight (P for trend for ORs=0.04). Compared to women without abdominal obesity, abdominally obese women had an OR (95% CI) of 1.26 (1.01-1.58). There was no significant association between obesity and pterygium in men. The present study provides epidemiologic evidence of an association between obesity and pterygium in women. Further studies are needed to examine the sex difference in the pathogenesis of pterygium.