Affiliations 

  • 1 Universiti Putera Malaysia
  • 2 Kolej Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
MyJurnal

Abstract

Introduction: Overweight and obesity has been emerging as one of the most common and preventable
nutritional problems worldwide. In 2016, 39% and 13% of the adult population worldwide was classified as
overweight and obese, respectively. Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study at 12
selected health clinics in Perak, Malaysia, and we used multi-stage cluster random sampling to determine the
prevalence of overweight and obesity among the primary healthcare workers and the associate factors of
obesity indices. Each respondent was required to complete a self-administered questionnaire on their sociodemographic characteristics. In addition, we took anthropometric measurements, including height, weight,
BMI, waist circumference, and body fat percentage, of the participants. Results: We recruited 261 primary
healthcare workers. Overall, 49.9% of the healthcare workers were overweight or obese, 51.0% were at risk
of having abdominal obesity, and 79.6% had a high body fat percentages. Age and self-reported health status
were significantly associated with all the obesity indices. Educational level showed significant association
with BMI and waist circumference, while occupational status showed an association only with BMI. Older age
and professionals were predictors for high obesity indices. Conclusion: The prevalence of obesity among the
primary healthcare workers was higher than among the general population. An immediate intervention
programme is needed to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity among primary healthcare
workers.