Transcultural attitude towards being overweight in patients attending health centers, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Objective: To assess differences in body weights among various nationalities living in Riyadh and find out the effect of sociodemographic characteristics of participants on their attitudes towards body weight.

Methods: In May and June of 1992, 4144 health center patients of various nationalities in Riyadh were surveyed about their attitudes towards the overweight. A survey of attitudes of 4144 health center participants of various nationalities in Riyadh towards the overweight were conducted during May-June 1992. Fifteen health centers representing the five arbitrarily divided sections of Riyadh (North, South, East, West, and Central) participated in the study. Every third patient was included if he or she satisfied the criteria. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire and to have their height and weight recorded. The body mass index (BMI) was calculated for all patients and their opinions about their weights were compared with the BMI.

Results: Obesity was more common among other Arabs (43.8%) and Saudis (36.4%) than Indians (27.6%) and Westerners (30.1%). Female subjects were more obese than their male counterparts in all nationalities. The body weights increased with age, fewer physical activities, low levels of education, and marital status. All these differences were statistically significant. When comparing positive predictive value of the opinion of the participants with their BMI, it was found that the Indians (87.2%) were less likely to be correct when they judge their degree of overweight than Saudis (92.2%), Westerners (92.8%), and other Arabs (95.4%). However, positive predictive values varied with the participants sociodemographic characteristics.

Conclusion: The findings in the present study of higher proportion of patients with obesity in the study group stresses the importance of promoting programs aimed at preventing or reducing obesity in the community.