Tabinda Hasan* and Kavitha Ganesh
Introduction: Obesity has become a large health problem globally and a major risk factor contributing to a number of diseases. It is suggested in Saudi Arabia for obese adults to use Orlistat and Metformin; in addition to dieting and doing physical activity. However, there are limited studies on the regular practices of weight-loss among Saudi people especially with the aid of weight lowering medication.
Objectives: The aims of this study are to evaluate the practice of using weight lowering medications and to describe self-reported side effects of using these medications among Saudi females.
Methods: A cross-sectional study carried out on Saudi females whom were approached to answer a set of self-administered questionnaires. The survey covers several aspects that will aid the study’s topic such as the demographic data, previous or current use of weight loss medication and any side effects from using the medication. The collected data were then analyzed using SPSS program.
Results: There were 820 participants (647 electronic submissions and 173 by paper). The results showed that among them 21.3% were using weight lowering medication, while dieting and exercising were the main methods used to lose weight (64.1% and 61.5% respectively). In addition, the most common drug used for losing weight was Orlistat (26.4%). Furthermore, the most frequent self-reported side effect for using these kinds of drugs was oily spotting (25.9%).
Interpretation and conclusion: Saudi females were found to use weight lowering medications and it was related to several factors such as the BMI and the ages of participants, however dieting and exercising were the main methods reported for weight loss.