AWARENESS, ATTITUDES, AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE SURGICAL OPTIONS IN THE TREATMENT OF OBESITY AMONG THE GENERAL ADULT POPULATION

Obesity is a major health issue worldwide that affects greater than 20% of the people in the world. In Saudi Arabia, more than 34% of the population is considered obese, and more than 69% is considered overweight. Compounding this problem, according to a presentation at the 3rd International Obesity Conference in February 2014, it is asserted that obesity-related surgeries are not covered under Saudi healthcare. Thus, our study aims at

1.      Understanding the knowledge of surgical options in the treatment of obesity among the general adult population.

2.      Assessing the attitude of surgical options in the treatment of obesity within the adult population.

3.       Measuring the practice of surgical options in the treatment of obesity among the general adult population.

Methods: A randomized cross-sectional study was conducted among the adult Saudi population from different regions of Saudi Arabia. After endorsement of the ethical committee of the faculty of medicine, the data were gathered using a specifically designed self-administered electronic questionnaire translated to Arabic with close-ended multiple-choice questions to assess awareness, attitudes, and background information about sleeve gastrectomy in the treatment of obesity among the general adult population.

Results: More than half of the study respondents were females, while the rest were males. While the majority (65.1%) came from the central area, only about 14.1% of the study respondents would consider weight reduction surgery as the first method of reducing weight.Only 9.2% of the study respondents felt like weight loss surgery is effective enough in the decrease of weight, while 45.3% did not agree, and the rest did not know.There was a significant association between the efficiency of surgery and the age group at 5% p=.003. Knowledge about obesity being a disease is significantly associated with p=.000.