Sunmi Kim
Korea University · Medicine
About the Lab
Professor Sunmi Kim's research lab specializes in metabolic and cardiovascular health, focusing on the epidemiology and pathophysiology of obesity-related disorders such as type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and hypertension. The lab investigates novel adipokines—such as visfatin, lipocalin-2, and RBP4—and their roles in insulin resistance, inflammation, and cardiometabolic risk. Through large-scale population studies and clinical intervention trials, the lab explores the impact of lifestyle interventions, particularly exercise training, on biomarkers and disease progression in Korean populations. The research also extends to zoonotic and aquatic pathologies, including parasitic infections in marine fish, reflecting a multidisciplinary approach to health and disease.
Research Overview
Research Output Trend
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Selected Papers
15OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of diabetes and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and their association with risk factors in the Korean population. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey 2001 was a nationally representative survey with a stratified multistage sampling design. Data from a comprehensive questionnaire, a physical examination, and blood tests were obtained from 5,844 Korean adults (2,513 men and 3,331 women) aged
Hypertension and prehypertension are common in Korea, and more than one-half of the hypertensive patients have not been diagnosed. These results place great emphasis on the urgent need for a public health program to improve the detection, prevention and treatment of hypertension and prehypertension.
Our population-based large-scale cohort study suggests that MetS and its components may be risk factors of PD development.
OBJECTIVE: Visfatin, a novel adipokine, was revealed to be associated with obesity and to have insulin-mimetic effect. Eotaxin, which is an important chemokine in asthma, was recently reported to be associated with obesity in mice and humans. We evaluated the effect of exercise training on plasma visfatin and eotaxin levels in association with cardiovascular risk factors. DESIGN: Forty-eight non-diabetic Korean women were evaluated before and after a 12 week exercise program including aerobic ex
In the course of identifying scuticociliates recently obtained from systemically infected olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus in Korea, we found a scuticociliate species whose small subunit ribosomal RNA (SS rRNA) gene was not amplified by species-specific primers previously designed for Uronema marinum and Pseudocohnilembus persalinus. By studying morphological characteristics of wet-mounted and stained specimens, we identified the species as Philasterides dicentrarchi, which has been reporte
OBJECTIVE: Lipocalin family proteins, including adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein (A-FABP), lipocalin-2 and retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4), have recently been identified as novel adipokines associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. We have evaluated the effect of exercise training on lipocalin family proteins and inflammatory markers. STUDY SUBJECTS: Thirty obese Korean women and 15 age-matched nonobese control subjects were studied. DESIGN: Concentrations of the
Although liver enzymes, such as γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), have recently been suggested as risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVD), impact on mortality after myocardial infarction (MI) or ischemic stroke (IS) was not previously examined. Using a population-based, nationwide cohort database, we explored the implication of GGT and aminotransferases on the development of CVD and all-cause mortality during a median 9.1 ye
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate clinical characteristics, aquaporin (AQP)-4 antibody results, and probability of developing symptoms of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) in patients with Sjögren's syndrome myelopathy (SSM). METHODS: We identified eight patients with spinal cord involvement from 112 patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS) referred to the neurology department. The clinical characteristics and AQP-4 antibody status, based on immunoprecipitation of EGFP-tagged AQP-4, of the patients with SSM were ass
OBJECTIVE: We examined the association between serum osteoprotegerin (OPG) levels, systemic inflammation and arterial stiffness in normal and diabetic patients. PATIENTS AND MEASUREMENTS: The study subjects comprised 49 newly diagnosed diabetic patients and 72 age- and sex-matched normal glucose controls. Anthropometric parameters, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose (FBG), lipid profiles, serum OPG, high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and brachial-ankle pulse wave
In the present study, Pseudocohnilembus persalinus was first reported as a species causing scuticociliatosis in olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus. Based on the stained specimens, P. persalinus was clearly differentiated from Uronema marinum, which has been shown to be a cause of scuticociliatosis in farmed olive flounder in Korea from its characteristic oral infraciliature structure. The 1754 bp small subunit ribosomal RNA (SS rRNA) gene sequence of P. persalinus showed 95% homology with the
Abstract Background The roles of chronic kidney disease and proteinuria in the development of Parkinson's disease have not been widely studied. The objective of this study was to examine the associations of chronic renal dysfunction and proteinuria with the risk of PD in older adults using cohort data of the whole South Korean population. Methods We included 3,580,435 individuals aged ≥65 years who had undergone health checkups provided by the National Health Insurance Service of South Korea bet
본 연구는 국내 선행 연구에서 보고된 아동․청소년 우울과 관련 요인(자아존중감, 부모양육태도, 사회적지지, 학업 스트레스)들의 관계를 메타분석적 접근으로 검증하였다. 1998년부터 2012년까지 국내 아동․청소년 우울에 대해 연구한 학술지 논문 및 학위 논문 총 86편을 분석하였으며, 무선효과모형(Random effects model)을 적용하여 분석하고 산출된 종합 평균 효과크기를 상관계수의 형태로 제시하였다. 분석 결과 아동․청소년 우울은 자아존중감, 부모양육태도, 사회적 지지와는 부적 상관을, 반면 학업 스트레스와는 정적 상관을 보였다. 아동․청소년 우울과의 종합 평균 효과크기를 비교해보면 자아존중감, 학업 스트레스, 사회적 지지, 부모양육태도 순으로 높은 관련성을 보였으며, 모든 변인이 중간 크기 이상의 상관을 보이는 것으로 나타났다. 효과크기의 동질성 검증 결과, 분석에 포함된 연구들이 서로 이질적인 것으로 나타났으므로 각 변인들과 우울과의 관련성에 영향을 줄 수 있는 조절
Research Areas
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