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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. [Download Article] [Download Certifiate] |