EPIDEMIOLOGY OF OBESITY IN ARAR CITY, NORTHERN SAUDI ARABIA.

Background: Obesity is a common health problem and rapidly increasing among Saudi Arabians. There is no studies that aim at identifying the prevalence and the main risk factors of obesity in Arar city. Objective: to determine the prevalence of obesity and overweight among Northern Saudis of both gender, aged 15 years or older and to study some of obesity related risk factors in that population. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out during the period from 1, January 2016 to 29, April 2016. A total of 592 subjects attending 3 randomly selected primary healthcare centers in Arar city. Each participant was interviewed separately, and confidentiality was assured. Data were collected by means of personal interview with the sampled women using a predesigned questionnaire covering the needed data. Results: The majority of participant in the study was a females 75% , and only 25 % were male. The overall prevalence of obesity was 35.3% and the overall prevalence of overweight was 27.2%. Obesity was found in 32.2% of females and 44.6% of males while 26.1% of females and 30.4% of males were overweight. (P value = 0.002). 13.8% of obese have history of childhood obesity, 56.8% had family history of obesity in 1st degree relatives and 25.7% of overweight and obese prefer the takeaway meals. Regarding the previous trials of treatment of obesity, diet regulation was tried in more than half (57.3%) of patients while medical treatment was followed in only fifth (20.8%) and 15.1% tried surgical treatment of obesity. More than half (59.2%) of overweight and obese don’t perform any muscular exercise, 13.0% performing daily muscular exercise, 27.8% performing muscular exercise 1-3 times/week. Conclusion and recommendations: The results of this study indicate an increased rate of obesity and overweigh in the Arar population. Male sex, middle age, history of childhood obesity, family history of obesity in 1st degree relatives and takeaway meals are risk factors for both overweight and obesity. Therefore, a community-based multiple strategies are required to combat with increasing rate of obesity and its subsequent complications such as diabetes, coronary artery disease, hypertension and osteoarthritis.