RESUMEN
Little is known about the level of knowledge and comfort with bariatric surgery among primary health care physicians. This study aims to explore the knowledge and perception of primary care doctors towards bariatric surgery in morbid obesity. The study design is a cross sectional descriptive one that was conducted from October to December 2007 including the Capital, Hawalli and Farwanyia health regions. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to all primary care physicians currently working in 50 centers in the selected regions. The questionnaire included data on their personal characteristics, their perception and knowledge about the use of bariatric surgery in morbid obesity. Simple descriptive statistics were used. Of 259 participating physicians, 63.7% believed that morbid obesity was best controlled with diet regimen and exercise alone. Only 11.6% thought that surgery was the best method for dealing with morbid obesity. About one third of primary care physicians did not know the most common complications and side effects of bariatric surgery. Moreover, the majority of them did not have knowledge about the specific types of the surgery. However, 71.8% of them were interested to receive information about bariatric surgery. Additionally, 73.7% correctly listed a body mass index of 40 kg/m2 as qualifying for bariatric surgery in case of obesity without co-morbidities, whereas 56.8% correctly listed a body mass index of 30-40 kg/m[2] as qualifying for the surgery in case of obesity with co-morbidities, and 88.8% could define bariatric surgery as a group of surgical procedures to treat obesity. Only 27.8% were familiar with vertical bandage gastroplasty as a restrictive procedure, only 3.9% of the respondents listed correctly that bariatric surgery is safe in adolescent, and 22.4% knew that the average percentage of the excess weight loss after the surgery is 60%. Of the participants, 42.9% and 71.0% did not know the cause of Dumping syndrome and the most common risk of early death after the surgery respectively. Low level of knowledge and misconceptions about bariatric surgery exist among primary health doctors despite the increasing frequency of these procedures. Educational programs need to be designed to assist them in treating morbid obesity