title: The prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in the young and middle-aged rural population in Sarawak, Malaysia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Coronary heart disease (CHD) was the second leading cause of death in Malaysia in 2006. CHD has known risk factors including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and obesity.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study examined the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among 260 participants aged 20 to 65 years in a rural community in Sarawak.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalences of overweight and obesity in this study were 39.6% and 11.9%, respectively. Approximately 13% of participants had hypertension, and 1.5% had a random blood sugar greater than 11.1 mmol/L. Chi-square tests showed significant associations between obesity and gender (P = 0.007), low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and race (P = 0.05), high total cholesterol and age (P = 0.007), age and hypertension (P = 0.011), smoking and gender (P < 0.001), and smoking and income (P = 0.050). Age-adjusted logistic regression showed that women were 0.246 times more likely to be obese, that older participants (> 45 years) were 0.395 times more likely to have high cholesterol and that those with a higher monthly household income (> RM830) were 2.471 times more likely to smoke.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings indicate that we should be concerned about the high rates of overweight in this rural community to prevent obesity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Lot 77, Section 22 KTLD, Jalan Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce, 93150 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Ching Thon
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Ping Yein
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Whye Lian
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Cheah