Distribution of perceived weight stigma and its psychological impact on obese people in Saudi Arabia.

Background: Worldwide, obesity prevalence has nearly tripled since 1975, with about 13% of adults being obese and about 39% overweight. Overweight and obese persons are vulnerable to frequent stigmatization and discrimination because of their weight, an issue that is barely discussed in the medical literature. In Saudi Arabia, the prevalence of obesity is 36%. However, there is no available data on the prevalence of perceived weight stigma among obese people. Therefore, this study aims to (a) determine the Distribution of perceived weight stigma among obese people, (b) identify the major sources of stigma, and (c) determine the psychological impact of perceived weight-based stigma on obese people in Saudi Arabia. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in Saudi Arabia using an online questionnaire that includes Stigmatizing Situations Inventory Scale (SSI) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Results: 1341 people participated in the study, of which 819 (61%) were females and 522 (39%) were male. Of all, 62 (5%) were underweight, 357 (27%) were normal weight, and 922 (69%) were overweight or obese. Participants in the overweight/obese category scored higher on average in every SSI item than did their counterparts in the underweight and normal weight categories, indicating higher levels of stigma among overweight and obese participants. The major sources of stigma for overweight and obese participants were identified based on the mean of participant responses to each item. These were: assumption about overeating or binge eating (mean response ± SD 2.80 ± 3.01), children's comments (2.22 ± 2.58), being stared at in public (2.18 ± 2.83) and being singled out as a child (2.05 ± 2.67). Conclusion: Parallel with the literature, our findings indicate a high prevalence of weight stigma in Saudi Arabia which can have negative psychological implications on obese people.

Coronavirus disease 2019 in Saudi Arabia: A nationwide real-world characterization study.

Background: On March 11th, 2020, The World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the COVID-19 is a pandemic due to its worldwide spread. The COVID-19 pandemic has extended its impact to Saudi Arabia. By mid-February 2021, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has reported more than 373,000 COVID-19 cases impacting different population categories (i.e., male, female, different age groups, comorbidities status). The objective of this nationwide study was to describe and explore the characteristics of hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia. Methods: This study was an observational epidemiological study based on collected clinical data from ten health institutions across all regions in Saudi Arabia. The study was conducted during the period from March 2nd, 2020, to January 31st, 2021. The data were collected included demographics, medical information, medications, and laboratory and diagnostic. More detailed information on usually missing factors such as smoking status, comorbidities, length of hospital stay were also collected. Both descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted using the statistical analysis software "SAS®" version 9.4. Results: During the study period, 5286 patients were included in this study. Of these, (79.15%) were male. Of all 5286 patients, quite a high number of the studied population 2010 (38.02%) were smokers. The majority of the patients 3436 (65%) were reported to have comorbidities, with hypertension being the most common disease 1725 (32.6%), followed by diabetes 1641(31.04%). A high proportion of the patients, 2220 patients (41.99%), were admitted to the intensive care unit; of these, (33.52%) were on mechanical ventilation. Most patients received anticoagulant prophylaxis medications (n = 4414, 83.5%). All patients were given more than one antibiotic prophylaxis. Overall, the median hospital stay was 5.5 days, and the median length in the intensive care unit was 4.26 days. Around (89.14%) of patients were discharged from the hospital, and (10.8%) died. Conclusion: In this real-world study utilizing a large sample size, this study provides confirmatory results on the COVID-19 patients characteristics that are similar to other populations. Healthcare professionals need to give COVID-19 patients with specific characteristics including smoking, diabetes mellitus and cardiac disease more care to avoid losing these patients.

Impact of risk communication on patient's safety during the pandemic.

More than 2 years has passed since the pandemic was declared in 2019 due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which was later declared to be the pathogen causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). During this time, many healthcare systems faced numerous challenges to control the high morbidity and mortality of the disease. Unlike previous pandemics, the actions against this pandemic started quickly on both the global and country levels. These actions were, scientifically, to study the virus as well as transmission process and to develop medications and vaccines against it. Also, we had to protect people from transmission by knowing how best to apply precautionary methods. However, there were some unexpected negative consequences of the pandemic and one of those the World Health Organization (WHO) called 'infodemic'. This term infodemic refers to the manipulation of a population's behavior in the assessment of information (or, more accurately, lack of assessment) related to the use of medications, particularly vaccines. Unfortunately, even with positive development in science, there was limited and often contradictory amount of information on the safety and efficacy profile of drugs and vaccines. Therefore, this made it harder for public health agencies to determine the impact of the incidence of adverse reactions and events associated with interventions such as vaccines. Hence, risk communication needs to be emphasized during any pandemic, as ignoring risk communications to different stakeholders could undermine all well-intended therapeutic interventions. Given this, it is important that the different stakeholders involved (health authorities, societies, healthcare professionals, etc.) assess the different behavioral patterns within their respective populations and propose appropriate strategies to act. Such an approach complement having risk management and communication plans for this and future pandemics. The aim of this article is to explore how information management, risk management, and risk communication during the pandemic can provide valuable lessons for the future. Plain language summary: Impact of risk communication on patient's safety during the pandemic More than 2 years have gone by since the pandemic was declared in 2019 due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Many challenges have been confronted by the healthcare system during this time to control the high impact of this disease. This pandemic, unlike others that humanity has faced, is characterized by a special feature: today, we have an enormous amount of information only a click away. This situation has been of great benefit to humanity and has allowed the development of science; nevertheless, misinformation (infodemics) has been a major problem, which has revealed the behavior of the population regarding the evaluation of information (or better, lack of assessment) related to the use of medications and particularly of vaccines. Given this, it is important that the different people involved (health authorities, societies, healthcare professionals, etc.) assess the behavior and propose appropriate strategies to act and have plans for this and future pandemics. This article intends to explore from the authors' perspective how information management, risk management, and risk communication during the pandemic can provide valuable lessons for the future.