Sociodemographic Factors Associated with Waist Circumference among Male and Female Adults: Findings of the Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey 2014

Yong Kang Cheah; Mohd Azahadi; Noor Safiza Mohamad Nor; Siew Nooi Phang; Noor Hazilah Abd Manaf

Return

Sociodemographic Factors Associated with Waist Circumference among Male and Female Adults: Findings of the Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey 2014

Author: Yong Kang Cheah ¹ ; Mohd Azahadi ² ; Noor Safiza Mohamad Nor ³ ; Siew Nooi Phang ⁴ ; Noor Hazilah Abd Manaf ⁵
Author Information

1. School of Economics, Finance and Banking, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 UUM Sintok, Kedah Darul Aman, Malaysia
2. Research Planning and Policy Division, National Institute of Health, No. 1, Jln Setia Murni U13/52, Seksyen U13, 40170 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
3. Centre for Nutrition Epidemiology Research, Institute for Public Health, No. 1, Jln Setia Murni U13/52, Seksyen U13, 40170 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
4. School of Government, College of Law, Government and International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 UUM Sintok, Kedah Darul Aman, Malaysia
5. Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia, 50728 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Publication Type:Journal Article
Keywords: Ethnicity, Gender, Income, Obesity, Waist circumference
From:Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2020;16(No.3, September):207-215
CountryMalaysia
Language:English
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.
Full text:11.2020my0843.pdf