Leveraging ABSHER Platform to Assess NCDs Burden in Saudi Arabia

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a significant threat to population health. In Saudi Arabia, the burden of NCDs is higher than in developed countries. One of the primary goals for the Saudi Vision 2030 is to increase life expectancy from 74 to 80 by the year 2030. In order to increase life expectancy, much investment is needed to reduce significant threats to mortality such as NCDs. The increasing availability of digital data from different sources opens a new frontier for healthcare research. This study assesses the distribution and the frequency of major NCDs and their risk factors to understand their burden on population health, such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma and some of their risk factors, and more importantly this study includes a validation analysis looking at a different sampling approach. Data were collected by an online survey through Absher platform over a period of 11 months. To create a representative survey sample, we constructed sample weights using the Saudi population's regions, gender, nationality, and age group distributions. Weights were used to sample from the survey data randomly. Next, a stratified systematic random sampling was applied with probability proportional to size. Two strata were created, one for males and the other for females. This approach resulted in a random subsample that match the Saudi population. The prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and asthma was found to be 14.40%, 15.65%, 16.25% & 6.29% respectively. The results suggest that NCDs remain a high burden of population health in Saudi Arabia. As the Kingdom move further to achieve Vision 2030, continuous monitoring of disease prevalence is warranted.

非传染性疾病（Non-communicable Diseases, NCDs）对人群健康构成重大威胁。在沙特阿拉伯，非传染性疾病的疾病负担高于发达国家。沙特阿拉伯2030愿景的核心目标之一，是在2030年前将人均预期寿命从74岁提升至80岁。为提升人均预期寿命，需投入大量资源以降低非传染性疾病等致死性重大威胁的影响。不同来源的数字化数据日益丰富，为医疗卫生研究开辟了新领域。本研究旨在明确主要非传染性疾病及其危险因素的分布与流行频率，以厘清其对人群健康造成的负担，涵盖糖尿病、高血压、哮喘等疾病及其部分危险因素；更为重要的是，本研究还纳入了针对不同抽样方法的验证分析。本研究通过Absher平台开展线上问卷调查，数据采集周期为11个月。为构建具有代表性的调查样本，我们基于沙特阿拉伯人口的地域、性别、国籍及年龄组分布构建了样本权重，并通过该权重对调查数据进行随机抽样；随后采用与规模成比例概率的分层系统随机抽样方法，将样本划分为男性、女性两个层级，最终得到与沙特阿拉伯人口结构匹配的随机子样本。研究结果显示，糖尿病、高血压、高胆固醇血症及哮喘的患病率分别为14.40%、15.65%、16.25%与6.29%。结果表明，非传染性疾病仍是沙特阿拉伯人群健康的沉重负担。在沙特王国推进2030愿景落地的进程中，持续开展疾病患病率监测工作实属必要。