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

INTRODUCTION The current guidelines on cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention in clinical practice emphasizes the importance of education in the media for population­‑based approaches.
OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between knowledge of CVD risk factors and watching educational television materials in the adult population.
PATIENTS AND METHODS After 22 months of repeated broadcasting of educational television materials, which addressed problems related to CVD, a postal survey was conducted on a random sample of 5000 persons aged 18 years or older. The questionnaire included information on demographics, personal and family history of CVD, educational materials, and knowledge of the risk factors. A multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between the knowledge of each risk factor and watching educational materials.
RESULTS A total of 1129 questionnaires were sent back and used for the analysis. There were 208 participants (18%) who watched the educational materials. The median 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, the participants who watched the educational materials were 2 to 5 times more likely to have knowledge on particular risk factors, with the exception of hypercholesterolemia for which the relationship was not significant.
CONCLUSIONS A strong, plausible relationship revealed by our study supports the idea that in the adult population, better knowledge of CVD risk factors was the effect of watching educational materials.