Factors that Affect Perceived Susceptibility to Cardiovascular Disease in Women

Abstract

LEARNING OUTCOME: To identify CVD risk factors that are related to perceived susceptibility for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in West Virginia women. Although risk factors for CVD in women have been identified, it is not clear to what extent that information has reached women in West Virginia, or whether women's beliefs about susceptibility to CVD are in accordance with that knowledge. As a preliminary step in developing health and nutrition interventions for preventing CVD in women in West Virginia, beliefs about susceptibility to CVD and the dissemination of knowledge about risk factors for CVD in women were investigated. As part of a larger study on women's health and nutrition, women were asked to report the presence of CVD risk factors (family history of CVD, smoking status, weight, blood cholesterol, menopausal status, blood pressure, physical activity level, and age) and their perceived susceptibility to developing CVD at some time in their life. We analyzed data from 193 women from seven primary care sites throughout West Virginia to determine whether women can identify risk factors for CVD and whether the presence of risk factors was related to self-perceived risk of CVD. Eighty-nine percent of the women knew that losing weight, increasing physical activity and stopping smoking can reduce risk of CVD. However, the only risk factors that were significantly related to perceived susceptibility to CVD in the entire sample were family history of CVD and body mass index (χ 2, p<0.05). When the sample was stratified by income the relationship between perceived susceptibility to CVD and family history was only statistically significant (p<.05) in women with an annual household income of less than $20.000 and the relationship between perceived susceptibility to CVD and body mass was only statistically significant (p<.05) in women with an annual household income of greater than $40,000. These results suggest that participants know about behavioral risk factors for CVD, but the knowledge has not been applied uniformly across income groups to perceived susceptibility to CVD.