Practicing healthy lifestyle behaviors among physicians in public primary healthcare centers, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Primary healthcare centers (PHC centers) physicians play a vital role in health promotion. This study evaluated healthy lifestyle behavior practices among the public PHC centers physicians in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Methods:This was an online cross-sectional study using a questionnaire and the WHO STEPwise approach to NCD Risk Factor Surveillance (STEPS) instrument. Data were analyzed by the statistical package of social science SPSS version 27. P-value < 0.05 will consider for significance. Results: Our study received 212 responses. Most respondents had overweight and obesity (61.7%), hypertension (82.1%), hyperlipidemia/dyslipidemia (19.3%), hypertension (10.8%) and diabetes mellitus (9.4%). Of all respondents, 8.5% knew 100% of scientific evidence about lifestyle medicine and 46.5% and 30.2% reported to know three-fourths and a half of practical lifestyle medicine, respectively. The vast majority significantly (p=0.000) agreed that physicians should apply lifestyle medicine services to every patient. Female gender (p=0.030), older age (p=0.000), marriage (p=0.000) and higher education levels (p=0.030) were associated with updates of knowledge (p=0.030) and giving more advice to patients about physical activities. Eating 4-5 servings of fruits (p=0.008) and vegetables 3-5 days a week (p=0.028) and never adding salt to the meal (p=0.000) were significantly associated with more frequent updates of knowledge of lifestyle medicine and always advising patients to perform physical activities. Conclusion: Our findings showed poor knowledge updates, good attitude and willingness to practice healthy behaviors and lifestyle medicine, highlighting the need for incorporating lifestyle medicine concepts in medical education and training of physicians.