Knowledge, awareness, and presence of cardiovascular risk factors among college staff of a Nigerian University

Abstract

Background Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of global morbidity often overlooked. Much of the population risk of CVD is attributable to modifiable risk factors, and the gaps in knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors (CRF) are barriers to the effective prevention and treatment of CVDs. Aim To assess the knowledge, awareness, and CVD risk among the staff of the college of health science. Methods A cross-sectional study of 70 academic and non-academic staff who consented were given questionnaires for cardiovascular risk factor (CRF) knowledge level, cardiovascular risk awareness (CRA), international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ), and international stress management association questionnaire (ISMAQ). Selected anthropometric indices, blood pressure, and fasting blood sugar (FBG) were also measured. Results The mean knowledge level of CVDs was 23.21 ± 3.230, and the mean CRA was 42.61 ± 4.237. The study participants demonstrated moderate-to-high stress (48%), physical inactivity of 18.9%, overweight/obesity of 62.48%, abdominal obesity of 21.4%, hypertensive (systole and diastole) of 27.2%, hyperglycemic of 7.2%, and smokers of 7.2%. There was a significant relationship between the participants’ knowledge level and awareness of CVDs (p < 0.003) and knowledge of CRFs also increased with an increase in educational level. Participants > 40 years had a 3–9% risk of having a CVD event within 10 years. Conclusions The knowledge and awareness of CRFs among the participants was high, and some exhibited risk factors. The staff of the university could improve their risk score by practicing health-promoting behaviors like increased physical activity, blood pressure control, and smoking cessation.

Health literacy as a predictor of cardiovascular disease risk factor knowledge level among women in Turkey: A community-based cross-sectional study

“…In literature, significant results were obtained when comparing the risk factors for heart diseases and the knowledge levels of individuals regarding CVD in various areas. [3,5,15,17,19,27,31] In our study, we found that the majority of the participants (78.5%) did not exercise regularly. In its 2016 guidelines, the European Society of Cardiology recommended at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity…”

“…Similar results have been reported in the literature. [3,5,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] In addition to educational level, occupation and income level were also found to affect women's level of CVD knowledge. Women who were civil servants and had higher income had higher level of CVD knowledge.…”

“…In literature, modifiable risk factors and CARRF-KL scores of individuals have been compared, and some parameters were found to have a significant effect on the results, similar to the findings of our study. [19,29,30] Chukwuemeka et al (2023) evaluated the knowledge and awareness levels as well as CVD risks of academic and administrative staff of the School of Health Sciences and found that smokers had high levels of knowledge and low levels of awareness of CVD risk factors. Similarly, in a study conducted with nursing students, nonsmoking students were observed to have a higher level of knowledge about CVD risk factors than students that smoked, and no significant relationship was noted with BMI.…”