Illness perception and cardiovascular risk factors in patients with myocardial infarction undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention in Iran

BACKGROUND: Knowing of perception of the illness, and cardiovascular risk factors in patients with myocardial infarction is crucial in engaging in effective secondary prevention. This study aimed to examine illness perception and cardiovascular risk factors in patients with myocardial infarction undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. METHODS: The participants comprised 131 patients undergoing a first-time percutaneous coronary intervention at a metropolitan, tertiary referral hospital in Tabriz, Iran. The convenience sampling method was employed to select the research sample within a six-month period. The instruments used were as follows: (1) Demographic and health information form, (2) The Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (3) The Health Risk Assessment framework developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The design of the study was descriptive, cross sectional. The continuous variables were analyzed using Independent t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA); and categorical variables were compared using the chi-square test. RESULTS: Most participants had a positive family history of cardiovascular disease (54.2%), with 66.4% of participants having at least one cardiovascular risk factor such as diabetes (36.6%) hypertension (32.8%) and dyslipidemia (16%). Most participants were physically inactive (78.6%), about 48.9% were overweight, 34.4% suffered from obesity and 26% were smokers. Illness perception in this study was seen to be high (6.21), with highest scores occurring in the illness control dimension (6.83) and lowest scores occurring in the understanding dimension (3.77). There was a significant relationship between illness perception and physical activity, nutrition, sleep and general health. Direct significant relationships between biometric values (cholesterol, glucose, blood pressure); psychological factors (depression, anxiety and stress) and illness perception were also found to exist. CONCLUSIONS: Low scores in two dimensions of illness perception may lead to psychological consequences such as stress, anxiety, and depression. The relationship between illness perception and some risk factors of cardiovascular disease such as physical activity, diet and biometric values, reveal the need for more attention to patient education and counselling.