Assessment of awareness about cardiovascular diseases risk factors amongst first year medical students

Abstract

Background: There are several risk factors contributing to cardiovascular diseases, such as age, gender and ethnicity. Positive family history being overweight and obese is also additional risk factors. Other, life style factor that contribute to hyper tension are smoking, stress cell phone use and physical inactivity, consumption of alcohol, increase salt intake reduce potassium intake. The objective of the study was to assess the awareness about cardiovascular diseases risk factors amongst first-year medical students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out amongst 136 first-year medical students of MIMSR Medical College, Latur, Maharashtra during the period of December 2017 to May 2018. A self-administered, pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to obtain information about awareness of cardiovascular diseases risk factors including diet, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol habits from the study subjects. Results: The study subjects were 136 first-year medical students belonging to 18-23 years age group. There was good awareness about high fat food, high sugar intake, smoking and alcohol consumption as cardiovascular diseases risk factors. Conclusions: There is good awareness about cardiovascular diseases risk factors among first-year medical students.

Awareness on Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Working Women - A Questionnaire Survey

“…In the present study, 97.2% of the participants answered that alcohol consumption can lead to CVD. In the study by Udaykiran Bhalge et al,94.2% answered that consumption of alcohol is a CVD risk factor (Bhalge et al, 2018). In the present study, 80.7% of the participants answered that smoking can lead to CVD.…”

“…In the present study, 63.3% of the respondents answered that women are more prone to CVD. In the study by Udaykiran Bhalge et al,69.8% answered that male are at risk of getting cardiac diseases (Bhalge et al, 2018). In our study, 89.9% of the respondents answered that working women are prone to CVD.…”

“…In the study by Udaykiran Bhalge et al, 97.06% answered that high fat food is a major risk factor of cardiac diseases (Bhalge et al, 2018). In the present study, 99.1% of the participants answered that mental stress/depression can cause CVD.…”

“…In the study by Deborah Koniak-Grif in et al, they concluded that there should be an improvement in the understanding of the awareness of CVD risk factors among the population (Koniak-Grif in and Brecht, 2015). In the study by Udaykiran Bhalge et al, it was concluded that good awareness on CVD risk factors among irst year medical students (Bhalge et al, 2018). The authors Karl Peltzer et al concluded in their study that there is a high prevalence of behavioural risk factors of CVD (Peltzer and Pengpid, 2018).…”

“…Ignorance and misperceptions are one of the reasons causing delays in seeking treatment and enhanced risk of sudden death (Koniak-Grif in and Brecht, 2015). Hypertension is attributed to the highest risk factor of CVD as evidence and researchers prove that there is a signi icant association between blood pressure and CVD (Bhalge et al, 2018). The risk is evident even in childhood.…”