Background and aim

Dyspepsia is one of the gastrointestinal diseases that is very common worldwide. Despite its prevalence globally, which ranges between 1.8% and 57%, no study has assessed the prevalence in Saudi Arabia. This study was aimed to investigate the prevalence and severity of dyspepsia in the general population of Saudi Arabia.

Methods

A modified Short-Form Leeds Dyspepsia Questionnaire (SF-LDQ) was utilized to conduct our study. The questionnaire score ranges between 0 and 32, where zero indicated no dyspepsia, a score of 1–8 indicated mild dyspepsia, a score of 9–15 indicated moderate dyspepsia and a score of higher than 15 represented severe dyspepsia. Socio-demographic data of the participants including age, gender, marital status, BMI, job description, insurance, and education level were collected. Using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 21.0 (SPSS), a univariate analysis was performed to assess the association of participants characteristics with the prevalence of dyspepsia, whereas logistic regression analysis was used to correlate their characteristics with the severity of dyspepsia.

Results

During a period of one month, March 1st to 31st 2019, a total of 778 participants have completed the survey. Most of them were females accounting for 68% of the population, married (63.9%), middle aged (range 34–51 years old) and literate with high school education (72.3%). Ninety two percent (92%) of the study population were found to experience dyspepsia. However, there is no significant association between socio-demographic characteristics and dyspepsia or its severity as well.

Conclusion

The prevalence of dyspepsia in Saudi Arabia is the highest in the gulf region which would potentially lead to more GI complications, and associate to poor health and economic outcomes. Education programs are essential to raise the people awareness of dyspepsia and the appropriate ways to prevent it.

中文翻译：

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沙特阿拉伯消化不良的患病率和严重程度：一项基于调查的研究。

背景和目的

消化不良是世界范围内非常常见的胃肠道疾病之一。尽管其在全球范围内的流行率在 1.8% 和 57% 之间，但没有研究评估沙特阿拉伯的流行率。本研究旨在调查沙特阿拉伯普通人群中消化不良的患病率和严重程度。

方法

使用修改后的简短利兹消化不良问卷 (SF-LDQ) 进行我们的研究。问卷评分范围在 0 到 32 之间，其中 0 表示没有消化不良，1-8 分表示轻度消化不良，9-15 分表示中度消化不良，高于 15 分表示严重消化不良。收集参与者的社会人口学数据，包括年龄、性别、婚姻状况、BMI、工作描述、保险和教育水平。使用社会科学统计软件包 21.0 版 (SPSS)，进行单变量分析以评估参与者特征与消化不良患病率的关联，而逻辑回归分析用于将其特征与消化不良严重程度相关联。

结果

在 2019 年 3 月 1 日至 31 日的一个月内，共有 778 名参与者完成了调查。其中大部分为女性，占总人口的 68%，已婚（63.9%）、中年（34-51 岁）和高中文化程度（72.3%）。百分之九十二（92%）的研究人群被发现患有消化不良。然而，社会人口学特征与消化不良或其严重程度之间没有显着关联。

结论

沙特阿拉伯的消化不良患病率是海湾地区最高的，这可能会导致更多的胃肠道并发症，并与健康和经济状况不佳有关。教育计划对于提高人们对消化不良和预防消化不良的适当方法的认识至关重要。