Assessment of Malaysian University Undergraduate’s Knowledge and Awareness on Metabolic Syndrome and Conditions related to it

Abstract

The incidence of metabolic syndrome is rapidly escalating around the globe, mainly due to the increasing rate of urbanization and its accompanying lifestyle changes. According to the World Health Organisation, these diseases will account for approximately three quarters of all deaths in the developing world by 2020. This study focuses on university undergraduate student’s knowledge score on metabolic syndrome and conditions related to it. It aims to determine the association of the total knowledge score across ethnicities, gender and course of study. Study was conducted on a sample of 251 students. Data analysis was performed using SPSS Software version 22.0. Results from this study showed that students of Chinese ethnicity, males and students from the faculty medicine had a higher total awareness of metabolic syndrome when compared to the other faculties. On the other hand, students from the dental school had an upper hand on awareness of diabetes mellitus and adiposity. Furthermore, students from the faculty of medicine had high awareness of adiposity, hypertension and stroke when compared to the other faculties in university. This study, helped us to know the knowledge level of the budding students from health-related studies and also provided general knowledge and awareness on metabolic syndrome as we have provided them leaflets once they have completed the questionnaire. This will help to prevent conditions like metabolic syndrome from being undiagnosed and will be helpful for students to flourish as successful health care professionals in future days.