1.Lifestyle factors associated with cardiovascular risk among healthcare workers from the tertiary hospitals in Sarawak
Kuan Pei Xuan ; Chan Weng Ken ; Chua Pin Fen ; John Yeo Jui Ping ; Fatin Ellisya Sapri ; Mohamad Adam Hj Bujang ; Asri Said
Malaysian Family Physician 2020;15(1):15-22
Introduction: A cross-sectional study is used to evaluate the lifestyle factors associated with
cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among healthcare workers in tertiary hospitals in Sarawak, Malaysia.
Methods: A questionnaire-based survey using the Simple Lifestyle Indicator Questionnaire (SLIQ) was
administered to, and anthropometric measurements were collected from, 494 healthcare workers.
Results: Te mean age of the subjects was 32.4±8.4, with a range of 19 to 59 years. Te subjects were
from the allied health (45.5%), management and professional (25.1%) and executive (29.4%) felds.
Overall, 47.4% of the subjects were of normal weight, 30.2% were overweight, 17.2% were obese and
5.2% were underweight. Te mean number of working hours per week for the subjects was 47.6±14.0
with the highest working hours found among the management and professional group, followed by
the executive and allied health groups. Overall, 39.7% of the healthcare workers worked ofce hours,
36.6% worked within the shift system, 20.9% worked ofce hours and were on-call and the remaining
2.8% worked a mixture of ofce hours and shifts. Based on the SLIQ score, 58.1% were classifed as
at intermediate risk for CVD, 38.5% were in the healthy category and 3.4% were in the unhealthy
category. Factors associated with a healthier lifestyle were being female (Odds Ratio [OR]= 12.1; CI=
3.2- 46.4), professional (mean score= 6.70), in the allied health group (mean score=7.33) and in the
normal BMI group (OR= 9.3, CI= 1.8- 47.0).
Conclusion: In our study, healthcare workers had an intermediate risk of developing CVD in the
future. Tus, there is a need to intervene in the lifestyle factors contributing to CVD.