Background: Although bariatric surgery is the only therapeutic method associated with significant and rapid weight loss, it is expensive and highly procedure and surgeon specific. The aim of this study was to assess the awareness about bariatric surgery, the prevalence of performance, complications, and its outcomes in Saudi Arabia.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out on a general population of different regions in Saudi Arabia. A pre-designed questionnaire was online distributed.
Results: About 79.7% of the studied population were females. Nearly 35.3% were 21-31 years old. Most of the participants (68.3%) were highly educated. Among participants, 14.9% rated their knowledge as 5 out of 5, 11.4% rated it as 4, and 33.8% rated it as 3. About 70.4% consider bariatric surgery as an effective way to lose weight. Only 8.1% of the study participants underwent bariatric surgery. Most of them (84.4%) were satisfied by the outcomes, 42.9% needed plastic surgery after the bariatric surgery, 52.4% suffered from heartburns or vomiting after the surgery, 49.0% followed a nutritional diet after the surgery, 58.5% did exercise regularly since the surgery, 33.4% suffered from diarrhea or inflation after surgery, 91.2% had more physical fitness after the surgery, 95.3% felt more confident after the surgery, and 89.1% felt more social after the surgery.
Conclusion: The present study found a reasonable knowledge about bariatric surgery among the Saudi population. There was a significant relationship between doing bariatric surgery and age groups, marital status, educational level, and body mass index groups of the respondents (p < 0.05), whereas insignificant relationships were found between doing bariatric surgery and sex, diabetes, and hypertension (p > 0.05).
Key words: Obesity, bariatric surgery, plastic surgery, weight loss
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