Awareness of Risk Factors of Hernia among Adults in Riyadh, KSA

Background: Abdominal wall hernias are a very common surgical condition affecting all ages and both genders. The main predisposing factors of hernias include pregnancy, weight lifting, constipation, weight gain as well as some chronic diseases such as Asthma Diabetes Mellitus.
Aim of the study: was to assess the awareness of the risk factors of abdominal hernias among adults of both genders and different BMI ranges in Riyadh population (Saudi Arabia).
 Methods: This is a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study enrolling a total of 100 randomly selected high-risk to development Hernia Saudi adults ensuring diversity in age range and educational stages. Descriptive analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 23. Awareness levels for Hernia were calculated as absolute frequencies and were reported as overall percentages.
 Results: overall results showed that only 48% of the respondents could relate hernia to the key underlying risk factors while 22% denied the correlation and 30% claimed no knowledge on the risk factors and the association with hernia development. However, majority of participants (87%) suggested a correlation between hernia and heavy lifting. Moreover, more than half of the study group (65% and 62%) related pregnancy and surgery as a contributing factor for hernia. While a lack of awareness was obvious on other risk factors such as smoking, chronic, constipation prostate enlargement, asthma and DM with a knowledge score of 37%, 36%, 32%, 32% and 29% respectively.
 Conclusion: Our study revealed lack of public knowledge on the predisposing factors for hernia among the study group of young Saudi female and male adults regardless to the age and BMI range. Despite the fact that 87% related hernia to heavy lifting, less than 65% of participants could correlate hernia to pregnancy and surgery while not more than 36% could correlate hernia with other key predisposing risk factors such as smoking, enlarged prostate, asthma, DM and chronic constipation. This indicates that proper intervention is needed to broadly raise the awareness of hernia risk factors among Saudi adults. This can be achieved by mass media awareness campaigns such as TV and radio health education programs as well as campaign at schools, universities and health centers.