Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome and Its Associated Factors among Vegetarians in Malaysia

Abstract

The prevalence and factors associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS) remain unknown in Malaysian vegetarians. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence of MetS among vegetarians in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor and its associated factors. The data on socio-demographic characteristics, vegetarianism practises, lifestyle behaviours, body weight, height, waist circumference (WC), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fasting blood glucose (FBG), and blood lipid profiles were collected from 273 vegetarians. A majority of the respondents were lacto-ovo vegetarians (44.0%), females (64.8%) and Chinese (54.9%). The prevalence of MetS was 24.2%. High BP (48.7%) and high WC (43.6%) were the most common MetS components. Females had lower WC, SBP, DBP, FBG, TG and higher HDL-c (p < 0.05) as compared to males. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that being overweight and obese (Odds Ratio (OR) = 7.74, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 4.04–14.82) was the main risk factor of MetS after being adjusted for sex and age. This study found that one in four vegetarians had MetS. An intervention programme should be developed to reduce Body Mass Index (BMI) among vegetarians, especially among those who are found to be overweight and obese.

Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome among Breast Cancer Survivors in East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia

“…Similar to the ndings of previous research, this study reported signi cant links between MetS and increased body weight [60,62,63], waist circumference [63][64][65], body fat percentage [63,64] and BMI [9], except for total cholesterol level or LDL-c level. However, the ndings revealed that MetS status is independent of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics.…”

Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome among Breast Cancer Survivors in East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia

“…Similar to the findings of previous research, this study reported significant links between MetS and increased body weight (Ching et al 2018;Moreira et al 2014;Ortiz-Rodríguez et al 2017), waist circumference (Johari and Shahar 2014;Ortiz-Rodríguez et al 2017;Raposo et al 2017), body fat percentage (Johari and Shahar 2014;Ortiz-Rodríguez et al 2017) and BMI (Wu et al 2018). However, we did not find a significant difference across MetS status in any specific sociodemographic profile, total cholesterol level or LDL-c level.…”

“…Meanwhile, previous literatures have described the links between MetS and other sociodemographic and lifestyle factors among Malaysian adults, such as higher age, unemployment, working in shifts, postmenopausal status, living in urban area, lower socioeconomic status, Indian ethnicity, Chinese ethnicity and lower education level (Kiew et al 2018;Jan Mohamed et al 2013;Ching et al 2018;Mohamud et al 2011;Rampal et al 2012;Lim and Cheah 2016;Ramli et al 2013;Tan, Dunn, and Yen 2011). Specifically, these factors can be linked with other modifiable risk factors of MetS such as physical inactivity and unhealthy diets.…”

Relationship of sociodemographic and lifestyle factors and diet habits with metabolic syndrome (MetS) among three ethnic groups of the Malaysian population

“…Furthermore Kaur et al, reported that the odds of MetS among Malaysian Punjabis (Indians) were higher with primary education, compared to those with higher education levels [43]. Ching et al, however, have reported that higher education levels of Malaysian vegetarians with and without MetS were observed to be nearly the same [44]. This could be due to the fact that it was a unique group of subjects with specific dietary habits and the results pertaining to this group may not represent the general population of Malaysia.…”