In maternal healthcare, pre-pregnancy weight is used to predict pregnancy outcomes. Since no recorded data on pre-pregnancy weight, perceived weight is used alternatively. This study examines the relationship between perceived and actual weight among non-pregnant urban Malaysian women of childbearing age and identifies differences in perceived and actual weight by selected socio-demographic characteristics. A cross-sectional study was conducted between April and June 2013 among urban Malaysian women attending public health clinics in the Klang Valley. Information on height, perceived current weight and time when their weight was last taken were obtained and actual weight was the average of two measurements (TANITA-HD-323-digital-scale). Socio-demographic data collected were age, ethnicity, education level, marital and employment status and total household income. Mean age of 371 women in this study was 28.81±5.65, 82.2% were Malays, 62.8% had tertiary education, over 75% were married and employed, with more than half from middle-income households. Overall, the mean perceived and actual weight was 59.29±11.59 and 59.20±11.90 respectively. Pearson’s Correlation test showed a very strong positive correlation between perceived and actual weight (r=0.957;p<0.0001), ranging between 0.852 to 0.994 among subgroups; 258 (69.5%) perceived their weight accurately (±2.0 kg of actual weight), 49 (13.2%) under and 64 (17.3%) overestimated their weight. Main outliers were among younger women, Malays, tertiary educated, employed, middle-income and had weight last measured a month or more ago. Strong correlation between perceived and actual weight among women in this study reassured weight perception can be used more confidently in patients’ history taking and future research among urban Malaysian women using public health services.​

Background: Frailty is an important health issue in an aging population; it is a state of vulnerability that renders the elderly susceptible to adverse health outcomes, including disability, hospitalization, long-term care admission and death. Early frailty stages are recognizable through screening and are reversible with targeted interventions. To date, however, there is no screening tool for use in Malaysia. The English Pictorial Fit-Frail Scale (PFFS) is a visual tool that assesses a person’s fitness-frailty level in 14 health domains, with higher scores indicating higher frailty. Objective: The aim was to translate and adapt the English PFFS for use in Malaysian clinical settings. Methods: The original English PFFS underwent forward and backward-translation by two bilingual translators to and from the Malay language. A finalized version, the PFFS-Malay (PFFS-M), was formed after expert reviewers’ consensus and was pilot tested with 20 patients, 20 caregivers, 16 healthcare assistants, 17 nurses and 22 doctors. Score agreement between patients and their caregivers and among healthcare professionals were assessed. All participants rated their understanding of the scale using the feasibility survey forms. Results: A total of 95 participants were included. There were high percentages of scoring agreements among all participants on the scale (66.7% to 98.9%). Overall feedback from all respondents were positive and supported the face validity of the PFFS-M. Conclusion: The PFFS-M reflects an accurate translation for the Malaysian population. The scale is usable and feasible and has face validity. Reliability and predictive validity assessments of the PFFS-M are currently underway.