Effectiveness of using e-government platform “Absher” as a tool for noncommunicable diseases survey in Saudi Arabia 2019–2020: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: E-government platforms provide an opportunity to use a novel data source for population health surveillance (also known as e-health). Absher is a Saudi e-government platform with 23 million authenticated users, including residents and citizens in Saudi Arabia. All Absher users were invited to participate in a web-based survey to estimate the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors in Saudi Arabia. OBJECTIVE: To assess the potential of using an e-government platform (Absher) to administer web-based health surveys. METHODS: A cross-sectional, web-based health survey was administered to Absher users between April 2019 and March 2020. The survey instrument included eight items and took <5 min to complete. The respondents' data were compared to Saudi Arabia's 2016 census. Descriptive summary statistics of the prevalence of major noncommuncable diseases are presented and compared to population-based prevalence data from Saudi Arabia's World Health Survey (WHS) 2019. All analysis was conducted using Stata 13.0. RESULTS: Overall, the Absher health survey had a 24.6% response rate, with most respondents being male (84%), Saudi (67%), and between 30 and 44 years of age (49%). Overall, the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases and risk factors among respondents was high for overweight (35%) and obesity (30%) and low for asthma (6%). The prevalence of diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension was between 15 and 17% on average, and 26.5% were smokers. In comparison to population-based World Health Survey estimates, the Absher survey overestimated obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and smoking rates, and underestimated overweight, whereas asthma prevalence was similar for Absher and the WHS. CONCLUSIONS: With improvements in the study design, the use of e-government platforms can provide a useful and potentially low-cost data source for public health research.