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Some patients with high cardiac risk fail to see need to improve physical health
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One in five patients with high cardiac risk disagreed that they needed to improve their physical health, according to a study in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
“Understanding what motivates changes in behavior is key to improving the health of individuals and communities,” F. Daniel Ramirez, MD, research fellow at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute in Ontario, Canada, said in a press release. “Our study sheds light on how knowledge of personally modifiable risk factors for [MI], such as quitting smoking and exercising, affects people’s perception of the need to improve their health.”
To determine whether potentially modifiable risk factors are associated with the perceived need to improve physical health, researchers analyzed data from 45,443 participants aged at least 18 years from the Canadian Community Health Study. The sample represented 96.8% (n = 11,006,123) of the population within the six provinces that were included.
Eight potentially modifiable risk factors were reviewed: cigarette smoking, obesity, low physical activity, high stress, hypertension, fruit and vegetable consumption, diabetes, and low or moderate alcohol intake.
The primary outcome was the perceived need to improve physical health, determined by a question asked to participants on whether there is anything they can do to enhance their health. Follow-up questions were asked to confirm the importance of participants’ responses, which asked what is stopping them from improving.
Most participants (82.3%) had five or more potentially modifiable risk factors. All potentially modifiable risk factors were associated with the perceived need to improve physical health (adjusted prevalence ratio = 1.08; 95% CI, 1.07-1.09 per additional modifiable risk factor).
The perceived need to improve physical health was noted in 73.6% of participants, and 81.1% of those planned on doing so in the next year. More than half (55.9%) of the group reported obstacles to implementing positive changes, including work schedule, family responsibilities and willpower.
Obesity, smoking, low physical activity, low fruit and vegetable intake and high stress were associated with the perceived need to improve physical health, whereas excessive alcohol intake, diabetes and hypertension were not positively associated with the need to improve, the researchers wrote.
Adjustment for potential confounders showed that obesity, smoking and low physical activity were strongly associated with the need to improve physical health. Associations were not noted for hypertension and diabetes.
“Though beliefs about potential harms (ie, risk perceptions) play a fundamental role in shaping health behaviors, the relationship is complex and may be influenced by individual dimensions of the perceived risk (perceived likelihood, susceptibility or severity), ease or cost of carrying out the behavior, the value ascribed to the outcome of the behavior and sociocultural norms or attitudes,” Ramirez and colleagues wrote. – by Darlene Dobkowski
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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