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AWARENESS AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT SURGICAL OPTIONS IN THE TREATMENT OF OBESITY IN GENERAL POPULATION IN ARAR CITY, KSA

Basmah Abdullah Alanazi, Jawaher Mohammed Hassan AL-Ruwaili, Alaa Jameel Ahmed, Shahad Lafi Alanazi, Nawal Ahmed M Alshammari, Mashael Jaza Alshammari, Ohud Falah M Alanazi

Background: KSA was reported to have a rapid increase in the prevalence of obesity as about 33% of saudi adults are obese and 70% are overweight. Weight loss surgery (WLS) is the most effective, invasive and rapid treatment option for patients with excess body weight, especially morbid obesity and diseases caused by it. There are no studies evaluating the knowledge of general population of Arar city, KSA in the field of bariatric surgery. Objectives: this study was conducted to assess the knowledge of general population of Arar city, KSA regarding bariatric surgery. Methods: this is a cross-sectional study. The study was conducted among adult saudi population form February 2018- july 2018 in arar city, ksa with a population size of 152 people. Results: most of the cases were from 21 to 30 years old (62.5%), the majority (93.4%) were females. The bmi status indicates a higher percentage of obesity (22.4%), and underweights were only 7.2%. As regards cases’ answers, 61.2% knew that bariatric surgery is effective in weight loss. The results also shows an insignificant relation between education level and knowledge about whether bariatric surgery is effective is weight loss, whether bariatric surgery is the only way to get rid of obesity, and considering bariatric surgery as the first way to lose weight regardless of diet or exercise. Conclusions: knowledge of general population of Arar city in the surgical treatment of obesity is not high. It may be assumed that false beliefs on the effectiveness and risk patterns of bariatric surgery are still very common, despite rising surgery numbers. Keywords: bariatric surgery, knowledge, obesity.

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