Knowledge and compliance of patients with ischemic heart disease’s for risk factors reduction

Background: Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is a commonest cause of death over the entire world. The objective of this study was to assess knowledge and compliance of participants for reduction of risk factors of ischemic heart disease. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted at Sudan Heart Center (SHC), Khartoum. A convenience sampling technique was used for selection of 106 participants who have recently experienced ischemic heart disease and were excluded the most severe cases. Standardized administered questionnaire was used for data collection after pre-tested and an ethical approval was obtained from Institutional Review Board and an informed consent was obtained from each patient prior to interview. The collected data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 15. Results: The study population was composed of 70% male and 30% female patients and most of them were elderly. The clinical history of participants revealed that 60% were hypertensive, 51% were smokers while 34% were diabetics. About 62% of the study population had poor knowledge about types and hazards of cholesterol, 57% of them showed poor compliance for reduction of cholesterol while 55% had poor knowledge of hypertension and 91% had poor compliance to follow better methods for control. Also 87% of subjects had poor knowledge about hazards of various types of smoking while 81% had poor compliance to cessation smoking. In addition to their poor knowledge about risk of obesity and inactivity while 68% didn’t follow the ideal physical exercise to decrease their weight. Conclusion: The participants had low level of knowledge and compliance regard reduction of ischemic heart disease risk factors.