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Sociodemographic factors associated with waist circumference among male and female adults: findings of the Malaysian adult nutrition survey 2014

Yong, Kang Cheah and Omar, Mohd Azahadi and Mohamad Nor, Noor Safiza and Siew, Nooi Phang and Abd. Manaf, Noor Hazilah (2020) Sociodemographic factors associated with waist circumference among male and female adults: findings of the Malaysian adult nutrition survey 2014. Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 16 (3). pp. 207-215. ISSN 1675-8544

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Abstract

Introduction: This study examined how waist circumference (WC) varied across sociodemographic characteristics of Malaysian adults using a nationally representative data. Methods: Data from the Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey 2014 (n = 2696) was used. In the sample, 46.55% were males and 53.45% were females. The outcome variable was WC. Waist circumference was categorised into four ordinal outcomes: Very low, low, high and very high. The explanatory variables were age, monthly individual income, education, gender, marital status, ethnicity, employment status and household location. Ordered probit models were utilised. Results: The majority of males had a low WC (54.66%), and only a small proportion had a very high WC (0.96%). Similarly, a high proportion of females had a low WC (55.59%), and only 1.94% had a very high WC. Younger males were more likely to have a high WC than their older counterparts. Males who had monthly income of RM2000-2999 or RM3000-3999 were more likely to have a high WC compared with those who had monthly income of ≤RM999. Chinese and Indian males were more likely to have a high WC than Bumiputera males. For females, those who were married, widowed/divorced and Bumiputera were likely to have a high WC. Conclusion: WC was associated with various sociodemographic profiles of males and females. In particular, there were positive associations between the likelihoods of having a high WC and younger age group, higher income, Chinese, Indian, and being married. Our findings provided policy makers with better information on formulating intervention measures

Item Type: Article (Journal)
Uncontrolled Keywords: Ethnicity, Gender, Income, Obesity, Waist circumference
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button): Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences > Department of Business Administration
Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences
Depositing User: Suhani Saarani
Date Deposited: 10 Feb 2021 10:49
Last Modified: 14 Mar 2021 12:20
URI: http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/88311

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