Table 1. Baseline socio-demographic characteristics of the intervention and placebo groups.
| Characteristics | Intervention (n = 93) | Placebo (n = 99) | P-valuea |
| N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | |
| Ethnicity | |||
| Malay | 83 (89.3%) | 89 (89.9%) | 0.777 |
| Chinese | 3 (3.2%) | 3 (3.0%) | |
| Indian | 7 (7.5%) | 6 (6.1%) | |
| Others | 0 (0%) | 1 (1.0%) | |
| Level of education | |||
| Primary | 6 (6.5%) | 8 (8.1%) | 0.496 |
| Secondary | 43 (46.2%) | 38 (38.4%) | |
| Tertiary | 44 (47.3%) | 53 (53.5%) | |
| History of CVD | |||
| Diabetes mellitus | 1 (1.1%) | 1 (1.0%) | 0.965 |
| Hypertension | 9 (9.7%) | 8 (8.1%) | 0.697 |
| High cholesterol | 15 (16.1%) | 15 (15.2%) | 0.852 |
| Metabolic syndrome | 26 (28%) | 22 (22.2%) | 0.359 |
| Mean ± SD | Mean ± SD | ||
| Age (years) | 42.58±5.35 | 42.88±4.99 | 0.69 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 27.23±5.49 | 27.23±5.09 | 0.99 |
| Blood pressure | |||
| Systolic (mmHg) | 121.61±16.19 | 118.90±14.85 | 0.23 |
| Diastolic (mmHg) | 77.77±10.64 | 76.80±10.99 | 0.53 |
| Serum 25(OH)D (nmol/l) | 30.19±8.71 | 29.99±9.70 | 0.88 |
| Serum calcium (mmol/l) | 2.18±0.07 | 2.19±0.08 | 0.246 |
| Serum PTH (pmol/l) | 4.60±2.19 | 4.76±2.05 | 0.611 |
| Lipid values (mmol/l) | |||
| Total cholesterol | 5.17±0.99 | 5.28±0.83 | 0.425 |
| HDL – Cholesterol | 1.45±0.49 | 1.44±0.35 | 0.846 |
| LDL – Cholesterol | 3.26±0.76 | 3.34±0.71 | 0.457 |
| Triglycerides | 1.15±0.53 | 1.17±0.62 | 0.770 |
| HRQOL (SF-36) | |||
| Physical functioning | 74.68±20.23 | 70.96±24.24 | 0.252 |
| Role physical | 74.35±22.98 | 72.27±24.40 | 0.544 |
| Bodily pain | 73.13±19.64 | 71.13±18.31 | 0.467 |
| General health | 66.77±16.87 | 66.12±17.13 | 0.791 |
| Vitality | 65.27±11.98 | 61.76±13.88 | 0.063 |
| Social functioning | 78.77±19.50 | 74.26±21.85 | 0.134 |
| Role emotional | 78.92±22.37 | 76.26±23.99 | 0.428 |
| Mental health | 73.12±12.11 | 71.06±16.62 | 0.331 |
| PCS | 49.57±6.78 | 48.80±7.41 | 0.453 |
| MCS | 50.09±6.69 | 48.65±9.17 | 0.218 |
| Median; IQR | Median, IQR | ||
| Insulin resistance | |||
| Serum glucose (mmol/l) | 4.80; 0.65 | 4.80; 0.70 | 0.871 |
| Serum insulin (mU/L) | 9.30; 9.95 | 9.20; 8.80 | 0.874 |
| HOMA-IR | 2.00; 2.28 | 2.00; 2.00 | 0.908 |
HOMA-IR, homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance; CVD, cardiovascular disease; PTH, parathyroid hormone; 25(OH)D, 25-hydroxyvitamin D; IQR, Interquartile range; PCS, Physical component score; MCS, Mental component score; BMI was calculated as weight (kilogram) divided by height (m2).
a
Determined with independent t-test or Mann-Whitney test for continuous variables as appropriate and with χ2 test for categorical data.