A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY AMONG MALAYSIAN POPULATION IN SELECTED STATES OF MALAYSIA TOWARDS OBESITY AND ITS COMPLICATIONS
*Kingston Rajiah, Elizabeth Mampally Mathew
ABSTRACT
Background: The understanding and perception among Malaysian
population towards obesity and its complications have not been
investigated extensively. The aim of this research was to explore the
understanding, perception and practice among general public in
selected regions of Malaysia towards obesity and its complications.
Method: This is a cross-sectional study which involved 1000
respondents. The respondents were conveniently approached and
recruited from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor states in Malaysia. A prevalidated,
self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection.
Both descriptive and inferential statistics were applied using SPSSĀ®
version 18. Results: Out of the 920 respondents, 52.82% of the
respondents were females while 47.18% consisted of males. Nearly
half of the respondents (45%) were in the age group of above 35. More than half of the
respondents (54.78%) were reported to have their own business. There was a significant
association between ethnicity and knowledge. Almost all the Chinese (96.4%) know the
normal body mass index of an adult which clearly shows that Chinese are aware about body
weight. Nevertheless Malay (88.4%) and Indian (89%) population were also aware about it.
Interestingly, income can also contribute towards the body mass index checking (P=0.018)
with higher tendency being noted among those earning more than RM 3000.Conclusions: The respondents were more aware that obesity occurs when a person consumes
more calories than a person burns it. Though the respondents are aware of obesity and its
complications to some extent, their practice towards obesity is not extensive which should be
looked into in the future for better health care, and health outcomes.
Keywords: Obesity, urban Malaysians, knowledge, attitude, practice.
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