Do Greek Citizens have Minimum Knowledge about Heart Attack?A Survey

Introduction: In Greece, there are no studies that examine the knowledge level of the Greek population regarding heart attack symptomology. This study is the first effort which examines the knowledge of the Greek rural and urban populations regarding heart attack.

Methods: It is a face-to-face survey of citizens conducted at five urban areas and ten counties in Greece. Measures included sociodemographics data, and 2 questions with 4 and 7 subjects, respectively, exploring the most common symptoms and the risk factors of heart attack.

Results: No single citizen answered all the questions correctly. The mean number of corrected answers was 4.3. Multivariable analysis showed that participants aged ≤55 years (4.9 vs 3.4, p<0.05), residents in urban areas (4.7 vs 3.4, p<0.05), who have advanced education (4.7 vs 2.5, p<0.05), with high income (4.8 vs 3.3, p<0.05) and family experience to heart attack (4.7 vs 4, p<0.05) answered correctly more questions than the others. Sex (p=0.25), family status (p=0.809), personal history of heart attack (p=0.801), work in clinic (p=0.918) and sources of information (p=0.568) had no effect on the level of knowledge.

Conclusions: We found that there is a dramatic lack of knowledge in the general public about the risk factors and typical signs of heart attack. Education seminars to the Greek population are needed to increase the recognition of symptoms and risk factors of heart attack.

Author(s): Pantelis Stergiannis

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