Relationship between knowledge of cardiovascular disease risk factors and watching educational television materials. Małopolska CArdiovascular PReventive Intervention Study (M-‑CAPRI).

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Thecurrent guidelines on cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention in clinical practice emphasizes theimportance of education in themedia for population-‑based approaches. OBJECTIVES Theaim of thestudy was to assess therelationship between knowledge of CVD risk factors and watching educational television materials in theadult population. PATIENTS AND METHODS After 22 months of repeated broadcasting of educational television materials, which addressed problems related to CVD, apostal survey was conducted on arandom sample of 5000 persons aged 18 years or older. Thequestionnaire included information on demographics, personal and family history of CVD, educational materials, and knowledge of therisk factors. Amultivariate logistic regression was used to assess therelationship between theknowledge of each risk factor and watching educational materials. RESULTS Atotal of 1129 questionnaires were sent back and used for theanalysis. There were 208 participants (18%) who watched theeducational materials. Themedian number of the risk factors listed was 4 (interquartile range, 2-5) for persons who watched the materials and 2 (interquartile range, 0-4) for those who did not watch them. After adjustment for age, sex, education, place of residence, and personal and family history of CVD, theparticipants who watched theeducational materials were 2 to 5 times more likely to have knowledge on particular risk factors, with theexception of hypercholesterolemia for which therelationship was not significant. CONCLUSIONS Astrong, plausible relationship revealed by our study supports theidea that in theadult population, better knowledge of CVD risk factors was theeffect of watching educational materials.