2007, Volume 13 No. 1

ARTICLE 1

Prevalence of Overweight among Secondary School Students in Klang District, Selangor

GR Lekhraj Rampal¹, Sherina Mohd Sidik¹, Sanjay Rampal², Daniel Wong Yi Jie³, Chow Poh Lee³, Liew Jer Shya³ & Shum Yong Shun^3
1 Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang
² Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya
³ Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang

ABSTRACT
Overweight and obesity place children and adolescents at increased risk of significant health problems, both during their early life and adult life. A crosssectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence of overweight among secondary school students aged 13-17 years in the Klang district and to determine the association between overweight and age, sex, ethnicity, religion and blood pressure. Random cluster proportionate to size sampling technique was used to select the respondents. Weight was recorded using TANITA model HD-309 and height was measured using SECA Body meter Model 208. A mercury sphygmomanometer was used to measure blood pressure manually. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS version 13. Out of the 3,333 respondents, 11.4% were found to be at risk of overweight and 8.2% were overweight. The prevalence of overweight was significantly higher in the males (10.6%) as compared to females (6.0%). Prevalence of overweight was highest in Malays (10.7%) followed by the Indians (7.1%) and the Chinese (5.9%). Prevalence of ‘risk of overweight’ was highest in the Indians (13.7%) followed by Chinese (12.0%) andMalays (9.8%). There was amoderate direct significant relationship between overweight and systolic blood pressure (r=0.5, r²=0.25, p<0.001) and also diastolic blood pressure (r=0.42, r²=0.18, p<0.001). The relationship between BMI and overweight was very weak (r=0.11, r²=0.01 and df=3331, p<0.001). In conclusion the prevalence of overweight among the secondary school students is high and there is a need for a comprehensive integrated population-based intervention program.

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