Avis N E, McKinlay J B, Smith K W
Cambridge Research Center, American Institutes for Research, Watertown, Massachusetts.
Am J Prev Med. 1990 May-Jun;6(3):137-44.
This paper examines the level of cardiovascular risk knowledge in the general population and the relationship between such knowledge and behavior. The following questions are addressed: (1) How informed is the general population about what persons can do to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease? (2) How do sociodemographic factors, self-perceptions of health, and cardiovascular risk factors relate to knowledge? (3) Is there a relationship between knowledge and behavior? (4) What might explain apparent inconsistencies between knowledge and behavior? The data used in this paper derive from a random sample of 732 men and women form the greater Boston area. We assessed cardiovascular risk factor knowledge by asking respondents what specific steps a person could take to make a heart attack or stroke less likely. Risk factors (including physiological measures), sociodemographic factors, and self-perceptions of health also were measured. Results showed that respondents were most knowledgeable about the relationships of exercise and cholesterol to heart disease. Knowledge was related positively to education, being female, and exercising. When we compared knowledge with behavior, results showed that for smokers and those who were overweight, risk was related to awareness, thus suggesting that knowledge does not lead necessarily to risk-reducing behavior. Implications of these results in terms of education and prevention are discussed.
本文研究了普通人群的心血管疾病风险知识水平，以及此类知识与行为之间的关系。探讨了以下问题：（1）普通人群对人们可以采取哪些措施来降低心血管疾病风险了解多少？（2）社会人口统计学因素、健康自我认知以及心血管疾病风险因素与知识之间有何关联？（3）知识与行为之间是否存在关系？（4）如何解释知识与行为之间明显的不一致？本文所使用的数据来自大波士顿地区732名男性和女性的随机样本。我们通过询问受访者一个人可以采取哪些具体措施来降低心脏病发作或中风的可能性，来评估心血管疾病风险因素知识。还测量了风险因素（包括生理指标）、社会人口统计学因素以及健康自我认知。结果显示，受访者对运动和胆固醇与心脏病之间的关系了解最多。知识与教育程度、女性身份以及运动呈正相关。当我们将知识与行为进行比较时，结果表明，对于吸烟者和超重者而言，风险与认知有关，这表明知识不一定会导致降低风险的行为。本文讨论了这些结果在教育和预防方面的意义。
