Background: Obesity is a global health burden in the non-communicable diseases and much efforts have been implemented in the past decade in response to the rise of obesity prevalence among the Malaysian population. These include the development of the national policies, health programmes and research activities. The main aim of the scoping review was to identify obesity research pattern among adults in Malaysia in terms of the scopes, topics and the research designs. Methods: The scoping review was conducted based on the framework by Arksey and O’Malley. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analysis (PRISMA) diagram was used as a guide to record the review process. Articles from year 2008 until 2017 on overweight and obesity among adults aged 18 years and above were retrieved based on the keywords using electronic databases (Embase/Ovid, Pubmed, Cochrane library and Google Scholar). Local journals, Nutrition Research in Malaysia Biblography (2011 and 2016), online local theses databases, virtual library databases were also included in the searches. Consultations with relevant key informants from the National Institutes of Health and local universities were also conducted. Search activities were managed using Endnote software and MS Excelsheet. Results: The characteristics of the results were described based on the objectives of the review. A total of 2004 articles and reports were retrieved, and 188 articles related to obesity in Malaysia were included in the final review. Scopes and topics of obesity research based on the Nutrition Research Priorities in Malaysia (NRPM) for 11th Malaysia Plan were obesity prevalence, weight loss intervention, association of physical activities and dietary factors with obesity. The majority of obesity research among adults in Malaysia was cross sectional studies and only a small number of intervention studies, qualitative studies and systematic review were indentified. Research gaps were identified in order to make useful recommendations to the stakeholders. Conclusions: In the past decade, there has been an emerging evidence on obesity research among adults in Malaysia. More obesity research needs to be conducted particularly on obesity intervention among specific gender, qualitative studies, economic cost and genetic factors of obesity. Keyword: Scoping review, Obesity, Research pattern, Overweight, Adult, Malaysia.

Background: Several methods have been developed to determine a person’s physical activity level. However, there is limited evidence in determining whether someone is physically active or not. This study aims to determine the level of physical activity and to compare the usage of short version International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-SF) and pedometer among overweight and obese women who were involved in the My Body is Fit and Fabulous at home (MyBFF@home) study. Methods: Baseline and sixth month data from the MyBFF@home study were used for this purpose. A total of 169 of overweight and obese respondents answered the IPAQ-SF and were asked to use a pedometer for 7 days. Data from IPAQ-SF were categorised as inactive and active while data from pedometer were categorised as insufficiently active and sufficiently active by standard classification. Data on sociodemographic and anthropometry were also obtained. Cohen’s kappa was applied to measure the agreement of IPAQ-SF and pedometer in determining the physical activity level. Pre-post cross tabulation table was created to evaluate the changes in physical activity over 6 months. Results: From 169 available respondents, 167 (98.8%) completed the IPAQ-SF and 107 (63.3%) utilised the pedometer. A total of 102 (61.1%) respondents were categorised as active from the IPAQ-SF. Meanwhile, only 9 (8.4%) respondents were categorised as sufficiently active via pedometer. Cohen’s κ found there was a poor agreement between the two methods, κ = 0.055, p > 0.05. After sixth months, there was + 9.4% increment in respondents who were active when assessed by IPAQ-SF but − 1.3% reductions for respondents being sufficiently active when assessed by pedometer. McNemar’s test determined that there was no significant difference in the proportion of inactive and active respondents by IPAQ-SF or sufficiently active and insufficiently active by pedometer from the baseline and sixth month of intervention. Conclusion: The IPAQ-SF and pedometer were both able to measure physical activity. However, poor agreement between these two methods were observed among overweight and obese women.

Dietary consumption and other environmental factors are known factors associated with sodium intake. However, little is known about the influence of energy intake on this relationship. +e aim of this study was to determine the risk factors associated with high sodium intake assessed from urine sodium excretion and the influence of energy intake. A nationwide, cross-sectional study was conducted from 2015 to 2016 among Malaysian health staff (MySalt 2015). A total of 1027 participants from 1568 targeted participants aged 18 years and older that were randomly selected were included in this study. Sodium intake was determined by measuring sodium excretion in the 24 hr urine test. Dietary, sociodemography, and anthropometry variables as associated risk factors were assessed. Multiple logistic regression models were used to determine the association between high sodium intake (≥2000 mg/day urinary sodium) and potential risk factors. +e prevalence of high sodium intake in this study was 70.1% (n � 733). High sodium intake was associated with male (OR 1.93, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.41, 2.64), Bumiputera Sarawak ethnicity (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.09, 0.62), and energy-adjusted sodium intake (mg/d) (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.03–1.39). Our results suggested that sex, ethnicity, and energy-adjusted sodium consumption were strong risk factors associated with high sodium intake independent from energy and other potential confounding factors.

Background: Obesity does not always lead to non-communicable diseases. The objective of this paper is to estimate the prevalence of obese and disease-free population among Malaysian adult aged 18 years and above and to determine the lifestyle and dietary factors on this population. Materials and Methods: Data from the Malaysia National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2015, a cross sectional design, applied two stage stratified cluster sampling. Obese and disease-free population was defined as population of obese adults with no known diagnosis of diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. Descriptive analysis of the background characteristics was performed and complex sampling was used to determine the prevalence of obese and disease-free population. Multiple logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with obese and disease free. Data was analysed using SPSS version 25.A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant. Result: 23.7% of Malaysian adults were obese and disease free. Multivariate analysis showed there were no association between lifestyle determinants (physical activity, smoking and alcohol) and dietary factors (fruits and vegetables intake) on these population. Significant associations were revealed among adults aged 18-24 [aOR: 5.00 (95% CI3.22-7.73)] and 25-44 years old [aOR: 2.45(95%CI 1.65-3.64)]. The Nagelkerke R Square analysis predicted that with each passing year, the probability of these population becoming unhealthy obesity increases by 4.4%. Conclusion: Obese and disease-free population is present among obese population. No significant association was reported for lifestyle determinants and dietary factors on these population. A focus shift on parameters of metabolic health should be considered.

Background: Hypoglycaemia among non-diabetes patients are not common but the aetiologies point out to factors such as sepsis, liver disease, malnutrition, alcohol related disorders and malignancies. The objective of this study is to investigate the prevalence and potential risk factors associated with non-diabetic hypoglycaemia. Materials and Methods: This study used data of the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2015, a cross sectional design, applied two stage stratified cluster sampling. Descriptive statistics for the complex sampling and multiple logistic regression were applied to estimate the prevalence of hypoglycaemia in non-diabetes population and factors associated in Malaysia. Result: A total of 18373 respondents aged 18 years and above were analysed. The overall prevalence of non-diabetic hypoglycaemia among Malaysia adults were 10.2% (95% CI9.27- 11.23). Non-diabetic hypoglycaemia was significantly associated with males (AOR=1.24, 95% CI=1.03-1.49), age group 18-24 years (AOR=2.61, 95%CI= 1.91-3.57), age group 25-44 years (AOR=1.93,95%CI=1.41-2.63), other Bumiputra (AOR=1.79, 95%CI= 1.30-2.45) and others ethnicity(AOR=1.64,95%,CI=1.18-2.29),normal weight (AOR=1.48,95%CI= 1.20-1.82) and underweight (AOR=1.60,95%CI= 1.17-2.18). Conclusion: Lower Body Mass Index (BMI) and underweight respondents, younger age group, males, Bumiputras and other ethnicity, were significantly associated with non-diabetic hypoglycaemia. The outcome of this study warrants insights into treating this group of patients. Therefore, clinicians should dwell into the aetiology of hypoglycaemia in non-diabetic patients and treat the underlying cause.

The prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically and is now a global public health concern. This study examined trends in mean body mass index (BMI), mean waist circumference (WC) and prevalence of overweight, obesity and abdominal obesity (AO) among Malaysian adults obtained from the National Health and Morbidity Surveys (NHMS) in 2006, 2011 and 2015. These cross-sectional population based survey applied a two-stage stratified sampling design provided data on household members aged 18 years and above. Face-to face interviewed and anthropometric measurements, including weight, height and waist circumference (WC) were collected. Age-adjusted mean BMI is significantly increased from 24.6 kg/m2 in 2006 to 25.7 kg/m2 in 2015 (p <0.001), while age-adjusted mean WC increased from 81.9 cm to 85.7 cm during the same period of time. Prevalence of overweight significantly increases from 28.3% to 31.3% (p <0.001), that of obesity from 13.2% to 19.1% (p <0.001) and that of AO, the largest, from 39.1% to 51.0% (p <0.001). The prevalence of obesity and, in particular, abdominal obesity among Malaysian adults has increased in all age groups over the past 10 years. Thus, there is an urgent need to determine the factors associated with obesity and abdominal obesity towards developing a national program to prevent deleterious obesity-related health outcomes.