Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the primary cause of disability and premature death throughout the world. Past decade has seen a rise in the awareness of heart disease of heart disease and its risk factors in general population. This may be attributed to the implementation of various health promotion policies. Whereas similar data among health-care providers, especially among medical students, who will play a key role in disease prevention and treatment are still lacking. Aims and
Objective:To assessthe CVDrisk factorknowledgeamongfirst-yearmedical students.MaterialsandMethods: Anexploratory cross-sectional survey was conducted among 154 medical students by distributing an anonymous pretested, self-administered, and structured questionnaire. The questionnaire contained 30 multiple choice questions and was prepared keeping in mind the key themes of identification of CVD and its risk factors.Result: Major risk factors for heart disease as identified by students are dyslipidemia(96.8%),obesity(94.1%),highbloodpressure(92.8%),smoking(84.4%),diabetes(82.4),age(81.8%),malegender (80.4%), lack of physical activity (73.9%), and family history (63.6%). However, only 12.5% correctly identified High density lipoprotein (HDL) to be the good cholesterol. On comparing the mean knowledge score for individual components, female ± ± ± participantsscoredbetterforepidemiology(3.01 0.10vs.3.33 0.11,p=0.031)andlifestylebehavior(2.97 0.11vs.3.60 ± ± 0.12,p= 0.0001). We could also derive statistically significant differences between students with smoking history (21.82 ± ± ± 0.26 vs. 18.75 1.01,p= 0.001) and alcohol consumption (21.84 0.26 vs. 18.91 0.92,p= 0.001) compared with those without, in case of total knowledge score. Conclusion: These results suggest that there are few areas of concern in our medical education that needs to be reformed. A sound knowledge of CVD is very essential for the medical students and to achieve this, change in the core medical curriculum starting from basic medical sciences is recommended.