Abstract

Background: Obesity has been a rising public health problem in Saudi Arabia in recent decades. For morbid obesity, bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate knowledge and beliefs about obesity and bariatric surgery safety among the Saudi population in Riyadh city.
Methods: A self-administrated electronic questionnaire (Google survey) was used for the survey which was conducted between 15th of June to 27th of October 2020. The questionnaire included questions about the public beliefs regarding obesity and bariatric surgery safety. It was distributed throughout social media platforms (Twitter, WhatsApp, and Telegram) targeting the Saudi adults in Riyadh city, aged 18-45 years and who were not working in the healthcare sector.
Results: A total of 512 persons participated study (59.6% males and 40.4% females). The BMI of participants showed that 53.2% were overweight and obese. The majority of the participants showed an adequate level of knowledge regarding obesity and its health burden. Approximately 32% of participants thought that bariatric surgeries were unsafe, 76.4% of them thought it was unsafe because surgeons lack skills and experience, 31% thought it was unsafe because of the high complication rate. Participant’s common source of information were patients who had weight-loss surgery before (54%).
Conclusion: The population showed an adequate level of perception toward obesity and its comorbidities. On the contrary, knowledge about bariatric surgery is inadequate in the city, so we recommend more evidence- based information via television, social media applications, and campaigns to raise public awareness about bariatric surgery safety.

Key words: Bariatric surgery, obesity, safety, awareness, perception, weight loss, Saudi Arabia