Cardiovascular health knowledge, attitude and practice/behaviour in an urbanising community of Nepal: a population-based cross-sectional study from Jhaukhel-Duwakot Health Demographic Surveillance Site

OBJECTIVES: This study determined the knowledge, attitude and practice/behaviour of cardiovascular health in residents of a semiurban community of Nepal. DESIGN: To increase the understanding of knowledge, attitude and practice/behaviour towards cardiovascular health, we conducted in-home interviews using a questionnaire based on the WHO STEPwise approach to surveillance and other resources, scoring all responses. We also recorded blood pressure and took anthropometric measurements. SETTING: Our study was conducted as part of the Heart-Health-Associated Research and Dissemination in the Community project in the Jhaukhel-Duwakot Health Demographic Surveillance Site in two urbanising villages near Kathmandu. PARTICIPANTS: The study population included 777 respondents from six randomly selected clusters in both villages. RESULTS: Seventy per cent of all participants were women and 26.9% lacked formal education. The burden of cardiovascular risk factors was high; 20.1% were current smokers, 43.3% exhibited low physical activity and 21.6% were hypertensive. Participants showed only poor knowledge of heart disease causes; 29.7% identified hypertension and 11% identified overweight and physical activity as causes, whereas only 2.2% identified high blood sugar as causative. Around 60% of respondents did not know any heart attack symptoms compared with 20% who knew 2–4 symptoms. Median percentage scores for knowledge, attitude and practice/behaviour were 79.3, 74.3 and 48, respectively. Nearly 44% of respondents had insufficient knowledge and less than 20% had highly satisfactory knowledge. Among those with highly satisfactory knowledge, only 14.7% had a highly satisfactory attitude and 19.5% and 13.9% had satisfactory and highly satisfactory practices, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates a gap between cardiovascular health knowledge, attitude and practice/behaviour in a semiurban community in a low-income nation, even among those already affected by cardiovascular disease.