Awareness of cardiovascular risk factors in ischaemic heart disease: implications during the projection of secondary prevention interventions

OBJECTIVES: Changing lifestyles and monitoring risk factors are two of the goals of secondary prevention programmes. To do this, it is necessary to investigate the level of patient's awareness regarding such factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate which factors the patients attribute as the cause of their ischemic disease and the level of their awareness. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and fifty-one patients from the Cardiology Rehabilitation Ward, who had undergone coronary bypass surgery, were enlisted (average age: 63.25 +/- 9.01 years; 85.4% men). During the psychological clinical interview, they were asked about the cause of their own coronary disease; their answers were then compared to the risk factors really present, to evaluate the index of awareness. RESULTS: The factors mainly indicated as linked to coronopathy are stress, smoking habits, dyslipidemia, and unbalanced eating habits ( 32, 30, 23, and 21%, respectively). The spontaneous indication of each of these factors was present only in individuals with the mentioned risk factors, and it varied on the basis of some sociological variables (chi, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Interventions of cardiovascular education must consider the personal data of the recipient individuals to increase the efficacy through the selection of targeted strategies.