Knowledge of metabolic syndrome in Chinese adults: Implications for health education

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess knowledge of metabolic syndrome (MS) among Chinese adults and provide directions for designing healthcare promotion schemes for improving MS awareness in the community. Design: The study adopted a cross-sectional design and a convenience sampling method. Method: Chinese adults aged 18–65 years and living in the community completed a self-administered questionnaire, providing socio-demographic information and indicating their knowledge of MS using a validated knowledge of MS (K-MS) scale comprising 10 multiple-choice questions. The scores of K-MS can range from 0 to 100. Results: A total of 297 participants were recruited (mean age = 51.3 ± 8.9 years), 66.7% of whom were women. More than half of all participants ( n = 154) were identified as having MS and numerous participants were obese ( n = 158). The mean K-MS score was 44.9 out of 100; most participants (61%) scored below 50, indicating a poor level of MS knowledge. Participants who were older, had a lower level of education or were unemployed scored the lowest. Conclusion: Acquiring knowledge of MS is crucial for preventing the development of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. However, Chinese adults in a community setting exhibited poor understanding of MS. Public health efforts regarding primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases should be targeted at improving MS knowledge. Additional measures are needed to assist people in the low socioeconomic classes.

Metabolic Syndrome Knowledge among Adults with Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Only 12.5% to 29.0% of the participants had heard about MetS [13,14], and fewer participants (10.0%) understood the definition of MetS [12]. Only a few studies have investigated the knowledge specifically on MetS [15,16,17,18,19,20,21]. These studies used either a single item or self-developed questionnaires to assess the level of MetS knowledge among general population or healthcare providers [15,16,17,18,19,20].…”

Measuring exercise self‐efficacy in Hong Kong Chinese adults with cardiovascular risk: Validation of a Chinese version of the Cardiac Exercise Self‐efficacy Instrument

“…This may reflect the limitations of observational research that women were more likely to enroll in a wellness program, so whether this instrument is reliable and valid in men requires more research. Unlike a previous study involving those with at least two CVD risk factors (Lo, Chair, & Lee, ), we included those who had one or more CVD risk factors. The low number of risk factors may indicate a low level of physical limitations, which may then lead to high self‐efficacy for exercise (Neupert, Lachman, & Whitbourne, ).…”

The Investigation Of Knowledge, Attitude And Practices Toward Of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Among The Patients Of Metabolic Syndrome

“…In addition, when participants are aware of the diagnosis of dyslipidemia, they can pay attention to selflearning of relevant information. People with normal HDL-C levels knew more about MS, which indicates the positive impact of information on disease management (Lo et al, 2015;Zhao and Zhang, 2008). Compared to other studies on CVDs and risk factors, this population also demonstrated broad discrepancies in knowledge, as well as inconsistency between knowledge and attitudes.…”