Abstract P567: Cardiovascular Health Awareness and Risk Assessment in Schoolteachers in Calcutta, India

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in India, surpassing all infectious causes. Early awareness of CVD and its risk factors and adoption of heart healthy lifestyle practices are crucial to reducing the impact of CVD in the community. Objective: To assess schoolteachers’ awareness of CVD and to compare the calculated ten-year risk of heart attack, stroke, and death by the Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD) model to the observed event rates. Methods: We surveyed 4,150 schoolteachers out of 5,321 (78% response rate) from 400 schools in Calcutta during 2019 using a questionnaire assessing their awareness of CVD in five domains: prevalence, spectrum of CVD, its nature, risk factors, and benefits of a heart healthy lifestyle. The study population was stratified by risk tertile of their 10-year calculated ASCVD score. Results: Awareness about cardiovascular health among schoolteachers (male 41%, mean age 44 years) was low: 33 (mean score out of maximum 100), varying in different domains as shown below. Although most (86%) were at mild risk for CVD with ASCVD scores below five, nine percent had moderate risk, and five percent had high risk of CVD. There was no significant association between their risk score and their awareness of CVD health (correlation coefficient r = - 0.022, 95% confidence interval - 0.052, 0.009). Conclusions: Cardiovascular health awareness among schoolteachers in Calcutta is suboptimal, many of whom are at risk for CVD. Awareness of the disease, detection of risk factors at an early stage, and adoption of a healthy lifestyle may help reduce CVD in this community.