Socio-demographic factors and healthy lifestyle behaviours among Malaysian adults: National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 16569 - 9
• Main Authors: Khaw, Wan-Fei, Nasaruddin, Nur Hamizah, Alias, Nazirah, Chan, Yee Mang, Tan, LeeAnn, Cheong, Siew Man, Ganapathy, Shubash Shander, Mohd Yusoff, Muhammad Fadhli, Yong, Heng Yaw
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 04.10.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 692/499; 692/700; Body mass index; Demography; Ethnicity; Health behavior; Humanities and Social Sciences; Lifestyles; Minority & ethnic groups; Morbidity; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sociodemographics; Surveys
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-20511-1

This study aimed to investigate the association between socio-demographic factors and designated healthy lifestyle behaviours in a nationally-representative sample of Malaysian adults aged 18 years and above. Secondary data involving 7388 participants aged 18–96 years from the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019, a national cross-sectional survey, was used in this study. A healthy lifestyle score (0–5 points) was calculated based on five modifiable lifestyle factors: non-smoker, body mass index < 25 kg/m 2 , physically active, moderate (or less) alcohol intake, and daily consumption of ≥ 5 servings of fruits and vegetables. Associations between socio-demographic factors and healthy lifestyle behaviours were examined using multinomial logistic regression adjusted for sampling design. About 30.6% of the participants met at least four out of the five healthy lifestyle factors. In multinomial model, subjects who were female (aOR = 3.26, 95%CI = 2.58, 4.12), of Chinese (aOR = 2.31, 95%CI = 1.62, 3.30 or other ethnicity (aOR = 1.44, 95%CI = 1.05, 1.98), and aged 18–30 years (aOR = 1.74, 95% CI = 1.12, 2.71) showed significant association with achieving healthy lifestyle compared to male, Malay and ≥ 61 years old as reference categories. Our results indicated that gender, age and ethnicity associated with healthy lifestyle behaviours. Information on the influence of socio-demographic factors on the prevalence of healthy lifestyles will facilitate the development of effective intervention strategies to improve the adaptation of healthy lifestyle practices.