Publication: Impact of community lifestyle intervention on anthropometric parameters and body composition among overweight and obese women: findings from the MyBFF@home study
Loading...
Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC
Abstract
Background: The prevalence of overweight and obesity among Malaysian women remained high over the past
three decades. Collaboration with existing community at-risk may be feasible for wide-scale prevention of
overweight and obesity in the country. The aims of this study were to examine the impact of community-based
lifestyle intervention among overweight and obese women on their anthropometric and body composition changes
as compared to the usual care group.
Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study conducted in low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A total of 255
overweight and obesity individuals aged between 18 to 59 years old were assigned to either the lifestyle intervention
group (n = 169) or the usual care group (n = 146) over a period of 6 months. Individuals in the intervention group
received 6 individual lifestyle counselling comprised of physical activity, diet counselling and self-monitoring components
aimed to achieve at least 5% weight loss while individuals in the usual care group obtained six sessions of health care
seminars from health care providers. These individuals were then followed-up for another 6 months without any
intervention as part of maintenance period.
Results: An intention-to-treat analysis of between-groups at 6-month of intervention (β, 95% CI) revealed greater
changes in weight among intervention individuals’ (− 1.09 kg vs. -0.99; p < 0.018) as compared to the control group.
These changes were not sustained during the maintenance phase (between 6 and 12 months). Overall significant
improvement at 12th month was found for visceral fat (− 0.78 vs. -0.64; p-value = 0.017), although no significant
changes between groups were detected either during intervention or maintenance phase (p > 0.05). Individuals
in the intervention group showed a significant increase for skeletal muscle mass (0.13 kg) than those individuals
in the control group (− 0.37 kg), p = 0.033, throughout the study period.
Conclusion: This study provides evidence that an overweight and obesity prevention program can be implemented
in a community setting, with some reduction of several anthropometric and body composition parameters.
Description
Keywords
Overweight, Obesity, Low-income women, Community setting, Lifestyle intervention, Malaysia, MyBFF@home study