Abstract

Background: Obesity by far is a new millennial dilemma and a noticeable gap lies within the literature about the extents of knowledge of bariatric surgeries among the general population and more in particular, in obese individuals regardless of candidacy of bariatric surgery. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice toward obesity and bariatric surgeries.
Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 390 adult Saudi population during April to September 2019 in Aljouf region, through a web-based version of the questionnaire. A convenience sampling technique was used.
Results: Out of total 390 participants, 43 participants (11%) reported that they had a previous bariatric surgery, and almost 350 (89.7%) were aware that being overweight or obese could cause significant medical problems. A total of 303 (77.7%) stated that there was a difference between obesity and morbid obesity. Most of participants (72.1%) selected sleeve gastrectomy as the single most effective method. Around half of the participants (50.3%) thought that the bariatric surgery was a medical procedure and 135 (34.6%) thought it was a cosmetic procedure. Significant correlations (p < 0.005) were found between education level and the following variables: awareness of medical problems that are caused by obesity (−0.164, p < 0.001), awareness of the role of
bariatric surgery in weight reduction (−0.104, p < 0.039), and awareness of the difference between obesity and morbid obesity.
Conclusion: There are still misconceptions among the public towards bariatric surgeries. Tremendous efforts should be taken to improve the patient-doctor discussion, which may lead to better discussions and outcomes.

Key words: Obesity, bariatric surgery, gastric sleeve, bypass surgery