Authors

1 Lara Menéndez González, 2 Gloria María González Sánchez

Position

1 Enfermera. Especialista en Enfermería Familiar y Comunitaria y Salud Mental. Centro de salud (CS) Llano Gijón (Asturias).2 Enfermera. Especialista en Enfermería Familiar y Comunitaria. CS La Felguera (Asturias).

Contact email: laramenendezgonzalez@gmail.com

Abstract

Purpose: to evaluate cardiovascular risk (CVR) perception and knowledge on cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) in subjects with moderate-to-very high cardiovascular risk.
Methods: a cross-sectional analytic study. Population: participants were recruited by means of a simple random sampling to select a sample of 247 subjects aged 40-65 years in the health center (HC) El Coto (Gijón, Spain), with no history of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and moderate-to-very-high cardiovascular risk in January 2015. Main assessment: a personal interview. Anthropometric variables and biomarkers. A tool to measure cardiovascular risk perception (PRHDS), ad hoc questionnaire on CVRF knowledge. Analysis: bivariate associations: chi-squared/McNemar tests. Kappa concordance index between categorical variables.
Results: answers from 132 participants were available. CVR was moderate in 60.6% (95%CI: 51.73-68) of participants, high in 19.7% (95%CI: 13.29-27.51) and very-high in 19.7% (95%CI: 13.29-27.51). A moderate perception of the risk of a cardiac event was found in 92.3% (95%CI: 74.87-99.05) of subjects with a very-high CVR and in 80.8% (95%CI: 60.65-93.45) of subjects with a high CVR. The highest level of knowledge on the identification de CVRF was observed in subjects with a moderate CVR (57.6%) compared to the ones with a very high CVR (27.3%) (P= 0.05). A low knowledge on therapeutic targets was found, with the best known factor being blood pressure (61.4%) and worst known one being abdominal obesity (9.1%).
Conclusions: an existing gap between perception and actual risk to have a CVD, as well as the low level of knowledge on CVRF highlight the need for effective communication strategies on the risk and for applying current European guidelines for primary prevention of CVD.

Versión en Español

Título:

Percepción y conocimientos de los factores de riesgo cardiovasculares