Primary Care Physicians' Attitudes and Practices in Managing Overweight and Obesity in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.

INTRODUCTION

Obesity is a prevalent health issue that affects countries globally, regardless of their level of development. In Saudi Arabia, both male and female individuals are experiencing a growing concern with obesity, which begins in childhood and persists into adulthood. Primary healthcare doctors play a crucial role in addressing this problem, as they are the initial point of contact and significant contributors to cost-efficient strategies for managing and preventing obesity.  Aim: This study aims to determine the attitudes and practices of physicians working in primary health care centers regarding the management of overweight and obesity in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.  Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in the Al-Ahsa region of Saudi Arabia. The study involved 188 participants by multistage stratified cluster sampling through two stages. The first stage involved randomly selecting 27 centers from 66 centers, proportional to the number of doctors in each sector. The second phase involved randomly selecting doctors at each selected center. Data were collected using a validated, pretested, self-administered questionnaire and analyzed by IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 28.0 (Released 2021; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States). We employed both descriptive and inferential statistics.

RESULT

The study involved 188 participants, more than half (n=102, 54.3%) of whom were female, and 95 (50.5%) were aged 25-29 years. More than half (n=107, 56.9%) held board certificates, and 74 (39.4%) had bachelor's degrees. Over half (n=103, 54.8%) had less than three years of experience. A majority of participants (n=133, 70.70%) had a moderate attitude towards obesity, while 41 (21.8%) had a good attitude, and 14 (7.50%) had a bad attitude. Furthermore, more than two-thirds of them (67.50%) had moderate practice, while 37 (19.70%) had bad practice, and 24 (12.8%) had good practice. There was a significant relationship between sex and attitude, where male physicians had an attitude score higher than that of female physicians (29.86±3.43 vs 28.63±3.47) with a p-value of .016, and the study revealed a positive correlation between attitude and practice.

CONCLUSION

Improving the attitude and practices of primary care physicians towards the management of overweight and obesity will lead to better health outcomes in overweight and obese patients.