Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are becoming major health burden in developing countries such as India. Rural women are reported to have high CVD-related mortality rates and are less likely to receive appropriate treatment.
Objective: Toassessknowledge,practices,andburdenofCVD-relatedriskfactors amongwomeninaruralareaofDelhi.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Pooth Khurd village, a rural pocket situated in northwestdistrictofDelhithroughhouse-to-housesurveybytwoinvestigators.Atotalof100womenabove18yearsofage and resident of the village were included in the study using systematic random sampling technique. A pretested interview schedule,containingitemstoassessknowledgeandpracticesregardingCVDsandriskfactorsbasedonvariousvalidated tools,wasused.Fischer’sexactandPearson’scorrelationtestswereapplied;testsweretwosidedwithp-valuebelow0.05 considered significant.
Results: Poor CVDknowledge was seen among studyparticipants with less than half of subjects identifying family history (24%), tobacco and alcohol intake (48%, 47%), and so forth as risk factors for CVDs. High burden of risk factors, such as high salt intake (35%), inadequate physical activity (77%), and raised blood sugar (5%), and poor health-seeking behavior were observed. Conclusion: This study reflects poor knowledge and relatively high burden of CVD risk factors among rural women. Poor knowledge is predictive of high CVD risk in community settings.