Population awareness of cardiovascular disease and its risk factors in Buea, Cameroon

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Jean Jacques Noubiap¹  Calypse Ngwasiri²  Anastase Dzudie³  Noah Takah⁴  Maxime Tindong⁵  J. Lennert Veerman⁶  Leopold Ndemnge Aminde⁷ 

[1] Department of Medicine, Groote Schuur Hospital and University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa;Non-communicable diseases Unit, Clinical Research Education, Networking and Consultancy (CRENC), Douala, Cameroon;Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Buea and Douala General Hospital, Douala, Cameroon;Non-communicable diseases Unit, Clinical Research Education, Networking and Consultancy (CRENC), Douala, Cameroon;Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Buea and Douala General Hospital, Douala, Cameroon;NIH Millennium Fogarty Chronic Disease Leadership Program and Soweto Research Group, Department of Medicine, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa;Non-communicable diseases Unit, Clinical Research Education, Networking and Consultancy (CRENC), Douala, Cameroon;London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK;Non-communicable diseases Unit, Clinical Research Education, Networking and Consultancy (CRENC), Douala, Cameroon;Universite Libres de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium;School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, QLD, 4006, Brisbane, Australia;Cancer Research Division, Cancer Council New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia;School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, QLD, 4006, Brisbane, Australia;Non-communicable diseases Unit, Clinical Research Education, Networking and Consultancy (CRENC), Douala, Cameroon;

关键词: Cardiovascular disease;    Awareness;    Risk factors;    Stroke;    Heart attack;    Cameroon;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-017-4477-3

 received in 2016-11-25, accepted in 2017-05-30,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAdequate awareness of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and their risk factors may help reduce the population’s exposure to modifiable risk factors and thereby contribute to prevention and control strategies. There is limited data on knowledge among the general population in sub-Saharan Africa regarding CVD and risk factors. We aimed to assess the population awareness (and associated factors) of CVD types and risk factors in Buea, Cameroon.MethodsThis was a community-based cross-sectional study conducted in 2016 among randomly selected adults (>18 years). Data on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge about CVD types, their risk factors and warning signs for CVD events (stroke and heart attack) were acquired using a self-administered questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate factors associated with moderate-to-good knowledge.ResultsOf the 1162 participants (61.7% women, mean age 32 years), 52.5% had overall poor knowledge (mean score 12.1 on total of 25) on CVD with only about a quarter correctly identifying types of CVD. Overall, 36, 63 and 45% were unaware of CVD risk factors, warning signs of heart attack and stroke respectively. In multivariable analysis; high level of education (aOR = 2.26 (1.69–3.02), p < 0.0001), high monthly income (aOR = 1.64 (1.07–2.51), p = 0.023), having a family history of CVD (aOR = 1.59 (1.21–2.09), p = 0.001) and being a former smoker (aOR = 1.11 (1.02–1.95), p = 0.043) were associated with moderate-to-good knowledge.ConclusionsThere exists a significant gap in population awareness about CVDs in Cameroon and this is similar to previous reports. Cost-effective community health education interventions taking into account socioeconomic status may be beneficial in this setting.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017