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Australian Journal of Primary Health Australian Journal of Primary Health Society
The issues influencing community health services and primary health care
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Impaired perception of cardiovascular risk and health literacy in individuals with high cardiovascular diseases risk from different socioeconomic levels in Antalya, Turkey

Ayşegül Ilgaz https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0640-2820 A , Ayşe Dağistan Akgöz https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2933-3402 A * and Sebahat Gözüm https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8672-8016 A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Akdeniz University, Faculty of Nursing, Dumlupinar Boulevard, Antalya 07058, Turkey. Email: aysegul_ilgaz@hotmail.com, sgozum@akdeniz.edu.tr

* Correspondence to: aysedagistan@akdeniz.edu.tr

Australian Journal of Primary Health 30, PY23178 https://doi.org/10.1071/PY23178
Submitted: 21 September 2023  Accepted: 14 February 2024  Published: 12 March 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of La Trobe University

Abstract

Background

This study aimed to determine how the frequency of impaired perception of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk is correlated with health literacy in individuals with high CVD risk in two regions with different socioeconomic levels.

Methods

A descriptive study was conducted. The Systematic Coronary Risk Estimation, recommended by the European and Turkish Cardiology Societies, provides recommendations based on individuals’ actual CVD risk levels. According to the Systematic Coronary Risk Estimation, participants suffering from diseases were identified as high and very high risk. The perception of risk was determined by subjectively assessing the risk level of the individuals. The European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire was used. The Mann–Whitney U test, Chi-squared test and Spearman’s correlation analysis were used to analyse the data. We also conducted a logistic regression analysis to identify factors contributing to impaired perception of CVD risk.

Results

A total of 384 individuals, aged between 40 and 70 years (with a mean age of 58.35 ± 8.33 years), were included in the study. These individuals had a high risk of CVD and were registered to family health centres from two different socioeconomic levels. Out of the 384 participants, 201 individuals belonged to the lower socioeconomic level region and 183 individuals belonged to the higher socioeconomic level region. A total of 61.7% of the participants with high CVD risk had an impaired perception of CVD risk. The health literacy level of 59.9% of individuals was either inadequate or problematic. The health literacy score of participants with impaired risk perception (29.59 ± 9.07) was lower than those with correct risk perception (35.83 ± 10.94; P < 0.001). Factors that affected the perception of CVD risk included age, education level, working status, occupation, a family history of CVD, the CVD risk assessment by health professionals and the recommendation of health professionals to individuals for CVD screening.

Conclusions

It is necessary for health care professionals to make risk assessments and perform interventions to improve health literacy to raise the awareness of individuals with high CVD risk on their actual risk.

Keywords: cardiovascular disease (CVD): risk assessment, community health: care, community health: nursing, community health: service, health behaviour, nursing: assessment, risk perception, SCORE.

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