Attitudes to smoking and diagnostics of cardiovascular diseases in an open working-age urban population and their associations

Abstract

Objective : To study the relationships of the attitudes towards smoking and diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases in an open urban working-age population. Material and Methods. Two cross-sectional epidemiological studies of the Tyumen working-age population of men and women aged 25-64 years were performed. The studies included 1,553 people (850 men and 850 women). Representative samples (1,000 persons each) were formed by the random number method from electoral lists of individuals of both genders residing in the Central administrative district of the city of Tyumen. The response rate was 77.7%: 85.0% in men and 70.4% in women. Attitude of respondents to health in the aspects of cardiovascular diagnostics and smoking were assessed according to the results of WHO MONICA-MOPSY questionnaire Knowledge and Attitude to One's Health. A statistical analysis was performed using STATISTICA 12.0 software. Values were considered statistically significant when P was < 0.05. Results. The Tyumen population aged 25-64 years was characterized by a high prevalence of smoking with significant predominance in male sample relative to females (47.0% vs 14.8%, p < 0.001). The analysis of attitudes to cardiovascular diagnostics showed that nearly % of the respondents relied on the perceived state of health whereas % of the respondents trusted their doctor and a half of them favored comprehensive examination by specialists. Gender features of the associations between the attitudes to cardiovascular diagnostics and to smoking were observed. Men who never tried to quit smoking were more likely to trust their perceived state of health (41.8%). On the contrary, the category of men who never smoked or quitted smoking were more likely to trust their doctor as sufficient approach to cardiovascular diagnostics (44.4 and 42.0%, respectively). In turn, the majority of women in these categories of attitudes to smoking preferred the third statement (83.3, 45.4 and 50.7%, respectively, p < 0.05). The associations between the attitudes to cardiovascular diagnostics and the prevalence of smoking were found in men and women (p < 0.001). The Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance and the median test suggested that, in the study population, the non-smoker respondents were significantly more interested in the diagnostics of cardiovascular diseases. Conclusion. The relationships between the attitudes to smoking and to diagnostics of cardiovascular diseases as well as their gender characteristics should be taken into account during the development and implementation of the primary prevention measures in the open urban population. Smokers disregarding interactions with doctors in regard to the issues of cardiovascular diagnostics require special attention where targeted information and preventive technologies are warranted.