Kyungchul Song
Yonsei University · Medicine
About the Lab
Professor Kyungchul Song's research lab focuses on pediatric metabolic health, with a primary emphasis on insulin resistance, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and obesity-related metabolic disorders in children and adolescents. The lab investigates biomarkers such as the triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index and modified TyG indices to improve early detection and risk prediction of metabolic and liver diseases. Using nationally representative data, the lab examines trends in prediabetes, NAFLD, and abdominal obesity, particularly during public health challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, to inform preventive strategies. The research integrates clinical, biochemical, and epidemiological approaches to understand the pathophysiology and long-term implications of metabolic dysfunction in youth.
Research Overview
Research Output Trend
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Selected Papers
15We investigated the modified triglycerides-glucose (TyG) indices and other markers for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in 225 participants aged 10-19 years, and the participants were divided into subgroups according to their NAFLD grade. We performed logistic regression analysis and calculated the odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of tertiles 2 and 3 for each parameter, with those of tertile 1 as a reference. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC
The triglyceride glucose (TyG) index, derived from a combination of fasting glucose and triglycerides, has been suggested as a useful marker for insulin resistance (IR), in addition to modified TyG indices that combine obesity parameters. This study investigated the association and utility of TyG and modified TyG indices for IR prediction in youth. Based on the Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey, the data of 3728 youth aged 10-19 years were analyzed. Odds ratios (ORs) and 9
A majority of children had a normal height. Among children with short stature, pathological short stature and normal variants occupied a similar percentage. GHD was the most common cause of pathological short stature and found in about 20% of the children with short stature. In pathological short stature, the height, height velocity, and IGF-1 level were lower than in normal variants.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a spectrum of liver diseases characterized by excessive fat accumulation, is the leading cause of chronic liver disease. The global prevalence of NAFLD is increasing in both adults and children. In Korea, the prevalence of pediatric NAFLD increased from 8.2% in 2009 to 12.1% in 2018 according to a national surveillance study. For early screening of pediatric NAFLD, laboratory tests including aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase; biomar
Our results demonstrated that the prevalences of abdominal obesity and NAFLD increased among obese Korean children and adolescents and in rural areas during the COVID-19 outbreak. Additionally, the prevalence of abdominal obesity increased among young children. These findings suggest the importance of closely monitoring abdominal obesity and NAFLD among children during COVID-19, focusing particularly on obese young children and individuals in rural areas.
Investigations on the trends of prediabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among children are scarce. We aimed to analyze the trends of prediabetes and NAFLD, as well as their association, among Korean children and adolescents from 2009 to 2018. This study investigated the prevalence of prediabetes, NAFLD, and abdominal obesity among 6327 children and adolescents aged 10-18 years according to age, sex, and body mass index (BMI) using a nationally representative survey. The prevale
This paper considers a decision maker who prefers to make a point decision when the object of interest is interval-identified with regular bounds. When the bounds are just identified along with known interval length, the local asymptotic minimax decision with respect to a symmetric convex loss function takes an obvious form: an efficient lower bound estimator plus the half of the known interval length. However, when the interval length or any nontrivial upper bound for the length is not known, t
This paper considers a series estimator of E [α( Y )|λ( X ) = λ̄], (α,λ) ∈ 𝛢 × Λ, indexed by function spaces, and establishes the estimator's uniform convergence rate over λ̄ ∈ R , α ∈ 𝛢, and λ ∈ Λ, when 𝛢 and Λ have a finite integral bracketing entropy. The rate of convergence depends on the bracketing entropies of 𝛢 and Λ in general. In particular, we demonstrate that when each λ ∈ Λ is locally uniformly ℒ 2 -continuous in a parameter from a space of polynomial discrimination and the basis fun
BACKGRUOUND: Studies on predictive markers of insulin resistance (IR) and elevated liver transaminases in children and adolescents are limited. We evaluated the predictive capabilities of the single-point insulin sensitivity estimator (SPISE) index, metabolic score for insulin resistance (METS-IR), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), the triglyceride (TG)/ high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio, and the triglyceride-glucose index (TyG) for IR and alanine ami
Dyslipidemia is one of the important influencing factors of cardiovascular health in the youth, and thus, assessment of its etiology is important. We aimed to investigate the association of dyslipidemia with vitamin D and physical activity in Korean children and adolescents. Data of 3183 subjects aged 12-18 years in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were analyzed. Participants were divided into subgroups according to sex, body mass index, 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, and
Background & Aims We investigated the triglyceride-to-high density lipoprotein (HDL) ratio (TG/HDL), triglyceride–glucose index (TyG), single-point insulin sensitivity estimator (SPISE), and metabolic score for insulin resistance (METS-IR) as potential predictors of pediatric metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) by addressing the limited research on insulin-resistance markers in this population. Methods This cross-sectional study included data from 1,150 and 260 youth
Research Areas
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