Knowledge, practice status and trends in risk factors for cardiovascular disease in inhabitants of Tehran University of medical sciences [population lab region]

ABSTRACT

Cardiovascular diseases are described as the most important health problems in developing countries which are developed in parallel with industrialization of communities. Based on the high morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular disease, this study was performed for examining the population lab inhabitants' knowledge and practice. In this cross - sectional study, 1576 inhabitants of the Population Lab Region were studied by cluster random sampling in 2002. 181 persons were selected from this population. The frequency of each cardio- vascular diseases risk factor such as; hyperlipidemia, smoking, obesity, hypertension, Diabetes, family history of heart attack, being man, stress and excitement, sedentary life style, salty food, vegetables fruits, fatty food and red meat consumption, were assessed. In addition, the population study's practice regarding controlling the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases was determined, as well. Moreover, specific questionnaire and direct interview were used for collecting data and then the gathering data was analyzed by SPSS and EPI - Info soft wares. In this study, 71.8% of people were women while 28.2% of them were men. Besides, there was a significant relationship between the people's knowledge about cardiovascular disease and the level of their education [P < 0.001]. According to the results, 65.2% of population believed that heart attack was the most prevalent cause of death in comparison with 44% of them considered car accident and 13.3% agreed with cancers. On the other hand, 74% of people used liquid oil in their food and 77.9% of them knew the side effects of unhealthy foods such as; salty food as one of the cardiovascular risk factors. The inhabitants' knowledge regarding to the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases was approximately acceptable. However, there was a significant different between their knowledge and practice. Therefore, providing suitable educational programs for improving people's nutrition, physical activity and the other relevant factors for preventing cardiovascular risk factors would be mentioned