Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Hertz, Julian T.
• Madut, Deng B.
• Tesha, Revogatus A.
• William, Gwamaka
• Simmons, Ryan A.
• Galson, Sophie W.
• Sakita, Francis M.
• Maro, Venance P.
• Bloomfield, Gerald S.
• Crump, John A.
• Rubach, Matthew P.

Titel

Knowledge of myocardial infarction symptoms and perceptions of self-risk in Tanzania

Ist Teil von

• The American heart journal, 2019-04, Vol.210, p.69-74

Ort / Verlag

United States: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Little is known about community knowledge of myocardial infarction symptoms and perceptions of self-risk in sub-Saharan Africa. A community survey was conducted in northern Tanzania, where the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors is high. Households were selected randomly in a population-weighted fashion and surveys were administered to self-identified household healthcare decision-makers. Respondents were asked to list all symptoms of a heart attack and asked whether they thought they had a chance of suffering a heart attack. Associations between participant sociodemographic features and responses to these questions were assessed with Pearson's chi-squared and the Student t test. There were 718 survey participants, with median (IQR) age 48 (32, 62) years. Of these, 115 (16.0%) were able to identify any conventional symptom of a heart attack, including 24 (3.3%) respondents who cited chest pain as a possible symptom. There was no association between ability to identify a conventional symptom and gender, level of education, socioeconomic status, urban residence, or age. Of respondents, 198 (27.6%) thought they had a chance of suffering a heart attack. Older respondents were more likely to perceive themselves to be at risk (P < .001), but there was no association between perception of self-risk and gender, level of education, socioeconomic status, or urban residence. In northern Tanzania, knowledge of myocardial infarction symptoms is poor among all segments of the population and only a minority of residents perceive themselves to be at risk of this disease. Educational interventions regarding ischemic heart disease are urgently needed.