Table 1.

Characteristics of surgical patients who were included and excluded in this study.

Factor	Included in the Study (N = 57) n (%)	Excluded from the Study (N = 23) n (%)	Test Statistics (χ2, p)
Gender			1.993, 0.123
Female	37 (64.9)	11 (47.8)
Male	20 (27.0)	12 (52.2)
Ethnicity			0.000, 0.592
Malay	43 (75.0)	17 (74.0)
Non-Malays	14 (25.0)	6 (26.0)
Age (years)			−0.039. 0.969 c
Mean ± SD	39.40 ± 10.01	39.30 ± 10.98
Median ± IQR a	38.00 ± 15.00	39.00 ± 12.00
Educational Qualification			1.248, 0.195
School b	17 (30)	10 (43.5)
College/University	39 (70)	13 (56.5)
Housing Situation			0.748, 0.387
Own House	47 (82.5)	17 (74.0)
Rented House/Quarters	10 (17.5)	6 (25.0)
Mode of Transport			2.519, 0.112
Own Transport	52 (91.0)	18 (78.3)
Public Transport/Others	5 (9.0)	5 (21.7)
Occupation			NIL d
Professional/Associate Professional	20 (35)	7 (30.4)
Management and Executive	7 (12)	1 (4.3)
Clerical Support	8 (14)	3 (13.0)
Armed Forces	4 (7)	1 (4.3)
Business Owners	5(9)	2 (9.0)
Students	3 (5.4)	4 (17.0)
Retired/At Home/Unemployed	10 (17.5)	5 (22.0)
Initial BMI			1.060, 0.299 c
Mean ± SD	45.52 ± 18.26	49.88 ± 18.29
Median ± IQR b	43.35 ± 12.33	45.52 ± 9.95
Obesity Classification
Class I	10 (17.50)	5 (22.00)
Class II	6 (10.53)	3 (13.00)	0.105, 0.368 e
Class III	41 (71.90)	15 (65.00)

^a interquartile range; ^b inclusive primary school, secondary school, and religious school, where one participant belonged to the latter category; ^c independent sample t-test value and corresponding p-value is reported; ^d no comparison was made, due to the small sample size in each category; ^e chi-square value is obtained by categorising obesity Class I and II as one group (not-morbid obesity) and Class III (morbid obesity) as one group