Affiliations 

  • 1 Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin
MyJurnal

Abstract

A normal health status is highly depends on body weight. Many health problems may occur or impose risk for
extremely obese individuals. Etiopathology of obesity includes interaction of several factors inclusive of
genetic and non-genetic factors such as lifestyle changes. This study aimed to launch Malaysian Obesity
DNA Bank and determine the prevalence of obesity along with anthropometric measurements of the subjects.
The cross-sectional study was conducted on total of 340 subjects (obese = 95, overweight = 122 and normal =
123), aged 19-60 years, in Terengganu. The BMI and well appropriate anthropometric measurements (waist
circumference, hip circumference, waist to hip ratio, fat percentage and ASindex) were determined through
standard protocols and formulae. The mean difference of anthropometrics was determined by independent ttest. Data was analysed using SPSS ver.16.0.0. The BMI was determined for all subjects and it was found that
out of 340 subjects, a total of 95 (27.9%) subjects were obese , followed by a total of 122 (35.8%) subjects
were overweight and normal individuals were 123 (36.1%). The mean of the BMI, WHR, Fat% and ASindex,
in Malay obese were 32.83, 0.88, 33.5 and 13.21 respectively, while in normal healthy individuals were 22.1,
0.78, 24.2 and 20.1 respectively. The difference of mean of BMI, WHR, Fat% and ASindex was calculated to
be 10.73, 0.1, 9.3 and 6.89 respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report in Malaysia,
reporting that this is very first Obesity DNA Bank in South East Asia region and prevalence of obesity in
Terengganu, Malaysia to be 27.9%. In addition, it indicates a significant mean difference for anthropometric
measurements among obese and normal individuals. For Asindex calculations suggest that the prevalence of
genocide obesity is greater 89.9% of android obesity in Malay obese attributes
.