Awareness of cardiac disease among caregivers of cardiac patients reporting to a tertiary care hospital - A cross-sectional study

 

 

Abstract              Background: Globally, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are responsible for one in four deaths. Compounding the issue is poor awareness about CVDs, risk factors and prevention. Objectives: This study determined the knowledge, attitude and practice/behavior of cardiovascular health among caregivers of cardiac patients reporting to tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted among 64 adult participants (caregivers of cardiac patients). Caregivers were interviewed using a questionnaire based stepwise approach to surveillance and other resources, scoring all responses. Results: The source of information about the general and heart related health information were given by doctors/health professional in 82.8% and this shows clearly that medias did not play enough role in educating the patients about general and heart related health information. Most (71.88%) of the caregivers accompany the patient to the hospital all the time, and majority (90.63%) of them support the patient financially. Majority of caregivers (75%) spend 4 to 6 hours with the patient on average per day. Regarding the knowledge about protective factors against heart diseases, nearly 70% stated that meditation, exercise and healthy diet can reduce the risk of heart disease. About 71.88% of caregivers said that heart disease can be prevented by lifestyle modifications. Regarding the knowledge about practices, about 85.94% stated that they will take the patient to the nearest hospital immediately, on seeing him getting severe chest pain. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates a gap between cardiovascular health knowledge, attitude and practice/behavior. Even though knowledge is scored little a bit lower, the attitude and practices were high enough among the caregivers. This clearly shows the role of doctors/healthcare workers on educating the caregivers about the knowledge on cardiac diseases.

Key Words: attitude of caregivers, awareness, cardiac disease