title: Determinants of body weight status in Malaysia: an ethnic comparison.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the roles of sociodemographic and health lifestyle factors in affecting body mass index (BMI) across ethnic groups in Malaysia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data are obtained from 2,436 observations from the Malaysia Non-Communicable Disease Surveillance-1. The multi-ethnic sample is segmented into Malay, Chinese, and Indian/other ethnicities. Ordered probit analysis is conducted and marginal effects of sociodemographic and health lifestyle variables on BMI calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Malays between 41 and 58 years are more likely to be overweight or obese than their 31-40 years counterparts, while the opposite is true among Chinese. Retirees of Chinese and Indian/other ethnicities are less likely to be obese and more likely to have normal BMI than those between 31 and 40 years. Primary educated Chinese are more likely to be overweight or obese, while tertiary-educated Malays are less likely to suffer from similar weight issues as compared to those with only junior high school education. Affluent Malays and Chinese are more likely to be overweight than their low-middle income cohorts. Family illness history is likely to cause overweightness or obesity, irrespective of ethnicity. Malay cigarette smokers have lower overweight and obesity probabilities than non-cigarette smokers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There exists a need for flexible policies to address cross-ethnic differences in the sociodemographic and health-lifestyle covariates of BMI.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Minden, Penang, Malaysia. atan@usm.my
authors.forename: Andrew K G
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Steven T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.forename: Mustapha I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Feisul
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D004522:Educational Status; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D008019:Life Style / Q000208:ethnology; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology