Vol. 5, Issue 1, Part A (2023)

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are mostly preventable cardiac diseases which manifest due to practice of unhealthy lifestyle. These days many people are deliberately engaged in find ways to preserve and improve their health by acquiring favourable lifestyle practices. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is caused by non-modifiable and modifiable risk factors such as smoking, alcohol, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. In India there are 60 million cases of cardiovascular diseases are estimated and it is expected to rise to 200 million in next decade. It is imperative to understand that the expected cases can be prevented only through modifying unhealthy lifestyle and practices.
Objective: We aimed to assess the knowledge and practice on lifestyle modifications of cardiovascular diseases and also to determine the correlation between knowledge and practices related to lifestyle modifications among hospitalized cardiac patients in a tertiary care hospital of northern India.
Methods: This is a, questionnaire based and descriptive study. Respondents who fulfilled the inclusion criteria 60 samples were selected using purposive sampling technique. A structured validated questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge and practice for data collection. After obtaining due approval from institutional ethical committee. Results: Mean knowledge and practice score of the study participants was 12.5±1.4 and 6.6±0.7, respectively. Among the total participants (n=60), 25 (41.7%) had good knowledge, 31(51.7%) had average knowledge and 4(6.6%) had poor knowledge regarding lifestyle and behavioural modifications. In practice score, 13(21.7%) had good practice, 46 (76.7%) had average practice and 1(1.6%) had poor practice. Socio-demographic variables like dietary patterns, education, occupation and body mass index significantly impacted the knowledge of patients regarding CVD prevention. Karl-Pearson coefficient proved that there was a perfect correlation between knowledge score and practices regarding lifestyle modifications among cardiac patients with ‘r’ score of 1.
Conclusion: Practice of lifestyle modification regarding cardiovascular diseases are largely determined by Knowledge. Patient with adequate knowledge practices good lifestyle practices. So A definite positive linear relationship exists between knowledge and good CVD prevention practices. Further interventional studies assessing various approaches to promote awareness regarding lifestyle modifications are required in cardiac patients. (Abstract published in Global Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences 2020, ISSN: 2449-1888, Volume 8/Issue 9/03).