Integrating Explainable Diagnosis, Digital Health, and Life-Stage-Specific Korean Medicine for Obesity Management: A Narrative Synthesis of the Daeat Conference 2026

Obesity is a heterogeneous chronic disease that requires diagnostic, behavioral, and life-stage-specific approaches beyond body mass index-centered assessment. In this short communication, the 5 invited speakers’ presentations from the Daeat Conference 2026 were reviewed and the content was organized into 4 research domains for Korean medicine (KM) obesity care. These were (1) interpretable diagnosis; (2) digital phenotyping and hybrid care; (3) life-stage-specific management; and (4) response-based personalization. Interpretable diagnosis was framed as a proposed modeling approach which maps multidimensional clinical observations onto inspectable diagnostic structures. Digital phenotyping was considered as a means of extending behavioral measurement beyond clinical consultations while preserving clinician-led care. Life-stage-specific management emphasized sarcopenic obesity and functional outcomes in older adults, while highlighting growth, development, and evidence gaps in children and adolescents. Response-based personalization distinguished nutritional input from interindividual metabolic and behavioral variability. Across these domains, several priorities for future research emerged, including standardized outcomes, longitudinal data, pragmatic multicenter studies, and appropriate data governance. These themes represent potential research directions rather than established evidence of clinical effectiveness.