Exploring Weight Stigma in Saudi Arabia: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study

Weight stigma (WS) in the Middle East, especially in Saudi Arabia, is widely ignored. People with obesity are blamed for their weight, and there is a common perception that weight stigmatization is justifiable and may motivate individuals to adopt healthier behaviors. The authors of this study aimed to explore WS prevalence and factors associated with WS in a large nationwide study of Saudi Arabian adults.

This study was a nationwide cross-sectional survey conducted via phone interviews in June 2020. A proportional quota-sampling technique was adopted to obtain equal distributions of participants by age and sex across the 13 regions of Saudi Arabia. In total, 6239 people were contacted, and 4709 (75.48%) responded and completed the interview. The authors of the study collected data about WS using the Arabic Weight Self-Stigma Questionnaire (WSSQ), BMI, smoking, nutritional knowledge, bariatric surgery, risk of depression, and demographic variables.

Participants had a mean age of 36.4 ± 13.5 (18-90), and 50.1% were female. The prevalence of higher WS was 46.4%. Among other risk factors, there was a significant association between WS and obesity (odds ratio (OR): 3.93; 95% CI: 2.83-5.44; p < 0.001), waterpipe smoking (OR: 1.80; 95% CI: 1.20-2.69; p < 0.001), bariatric surgery (OR: 2.07; 95% CI: 1.53-2.81; p < 0.001), and risk of depression (OR: 1.68; 95% CI: 1.36-2.09; p < 0.001).

This was the first study to explore WS and its associated factors among adults in a community setting in Saudi Arabia. This study revealed some risk factors associated with WS that may help to identify people at risk of WS and to develop interventions to reduce WS, such as improving nutritional knowledge, correcting the ideas about bariatric surgery and obesity in general, and ceasing waterpipe smoking.