The landscape of adult obesity in Malaysia: a mapping of evidence and contemporary narrative review

, and waist-to-height ratio >0.5 is a consistent unhealthy threshold. Research on disease burden, economic impact, and long-term outcomes remain limited, constraining policy prioritization. Lifestyle interventions deliver modest effects and are largely confined to micro- and meso-level programmes. Uptake of obesity management medications remains low, bariatric surgery services are expanding but still developing, while policy implementation gaps persist despite existing frameworks. Addressing obesity in Malaysia will require a coordinated, whole-of-society response. Future studies should adopt disease-oriented strategies, harnessing longitudinal national cohorts, pragmatic trials, scalable meso/macro interventions, and a national research collaborative leveraging available resources.