Zareen Muhammad, Ullah Zia, Khan Muhammad I, Khan Shahzeb, Maroof Syed Asad, Bashir Mutahar
General Surgery, Khyber Medical College/Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, PAK.
Health and Nutrition Program, Helping Hand for Relief and Development, Islamabad, PAK.
Cureus. 2023 Jun 12;15(6):e40305. doi: 10.7759/cureus.40305. eCollection 2023 Jun.
Obesity is on the rise worldwide and has emerged as a global health concern. It has presented itself as the leading cause of morbidity, disability, and healthcare utilization. Bariatric surgery is a viable treatment option that offers sustained weight loss and improvement in comorbidities. The aim of this study is to determine the perception of doctors regarding bariatric surgery and the major barriers to the referral of morbidly obese for surgery.
This study is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted from November 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022. It involved prospective data collection through online questionnaires filled by doctors practicing in Peshawar. The sampling technique was non-probability convenience-based sampling. The sample size was 152. Doctors from all age groups and both genders were included in our study. Non-consenting doctors and those who were practicing bariatric surgery were excluded. Data were analyzed using a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 25.0 (IBM Inc., Armonk, NY). Categorical variables have been presented as frequencies and percentages. Numerical variables have been presented as mean ± SD.
A total of 152 doctors participated in our research study; 92 were physicians and 60 were surgeons. The majority of our study participants' patient load per week was >75. Around 47% believed bariatric surgery was a valuable tool in the treatment of morbid obesity. The most commonly reported barrier to referral was surgical complications or side effects (28.9%).
The study concluded that the awareness regarding bariatric and metabolic surgery remains flimsy among the doctor community. Most of the physicians were unaware of the benefits of the surgical management of obesity. They also had doubts regarding the safety of the procedure. We need proper utilization of awareness strategies to overcome these barriers.
肥胖在全球范围内呈上升趋势，已成为全球健康问题。它已成为发病、残疾和医疗保健利用的主要原因。减肥手术是一种可行的治疗选择，可实现持续减重并改善合并症。本研究的目的是确定医生对减肥手术的看法以及将病态肥胖患者转诊进行手术的主要障碍。
本研究是一项横断面描述性研究，于2022年11月1日至2022年12月31日进行。它涉及通过白沙瓦执业医生填写的在线问卷进行前瞻性数据收集。抽样技术是基于非概率便利抽样。样本量为152。我们的研究纳入了所有年龄组和性别的医生。不同意参与的医生和从事减肥手术的医生被排除在外。使用社会科学统计软件包（SPSS）25.0版（IBM公司，纽约州阿蒙克）对数据进行分析。分类变量以频率和百分比表示。数值变量以平均值±标准差表示。
共有152名医生参与了我们的研究；92名是内科医生，60名是外科医生。我们研究的大多数参与者每周的患者量>75。约47%的人认为减肥手术是治疗病态肥胖的有效工具。最常报告的转诊障碍是手术并发症或副作用（28.9%）。
该研究得出结论，医生群体对减肥和代谢手术的认识仍然薄弱。大多数内科医生不知道肥胖手术治疗的益处。他们也对该手术的安全性表示怀疑。我们需要合理利用宣传策略来克服这些障碍。
