Health Survey finds 30 percent of Macau overweight

The Health Bureau (SSM) published the findings of the Macau Health Survey 2016 yesterday, showing that more than one-third of men and almost 28 percent of women in Macau were considered overweight or obese last year. The average for both sexes was just over 30 percent, according to an accompanying report.

According to the report, an average of 34 percent of the surveyed men qualified as overweight or obese, with the highest rate of prevalence (44 percent) in the age category of 45 to 59. Meanwhile, the highest rate of prevalence for women (40.6 percent) occurred in the category for people older than 75.

Around 30 percent of men in the survey said that they smoked, while just 4.4 percent of the women surveyed said they were smokers. The biggest age bracket for female smokers (7.3 percent) was the 30-44 category.

As for alcohol consumption, some 12.5 percent of male respondents said that they drank alcohol more than three times per week, while only 1.7 percent of women said the same. More than 20 percent of men aged 45 to 59 drink at least three times per week.

On the other hand, according to the same survey, the proportion of respondents who said they consumed on average more than 5 units of alcohol per day was about 13 percent for men and about 2.5 percent for women. Five units of alcohol is approximately equal to two pints (568ml) of beer or cider, or two medium glasses (175ml) of wine.

As for diet, more than half of male and female respondents indicated that they are not consuming enough fruit and vegetables, while 50 percent of men and 35 percent of women had an excess of red meat intake.

According to the SSM report, the objectives of the Macau Health Survey are to uncover the prevalence of risk behavior in the territory, such as tobacco smoking, the consumption of alcohol, prevalence of obesity, as well as the presence of chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity and hyperlipidemia.

Some 2,800 people participated in the survey, of which 56.7 percent were female. Analyzed by age, about 38 percent of the respondents (both male and female) were younger than 45, while over 35 percent were between the ages of 45 and 59.