Knowledge and Prevention Behavior of Ischemic Heart Disease among Elders in Sikhiu District, Nakhonratchasima Province - ความรู้เกี่ยวกับโรคหัวใจขาดเลือดและพฤติกรรม การป้องกันโรคหัวใจขาดเลือดในผู้สูงอายุอำเภอสีคิ้ว จังหวัดนครราชสีมา

Abstract

         The objective of this study was to assess knowledge on ischemic heart disease, risk factors and preventative behaviors among the elderly aged 60 years and above in the Sikhiu District of Nakhon Ratchasima Province. The subjects were 358 elderly people randomly selected, and were divided into a high risk group with hypertension and/or diabetes and a normal group without these diagnoses. Data were collected using a structured interview questionnaire which had three sections (1) general personal information,
(2) questions to assess knowledge about ischemic heart disease, and (3) actions taken by the respondents to prevent ischemic heart disease. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent t-tests with significant level of 0.05. It was found that 40.78% of all the elderly subjects had low level of knowledge about ischemic heart disease, 49.44% of the high risk group and 46.10% of the normal group. The mean knowledge scores in the high risk and the normal groups was 22.81 (SD = 7.24) and 17.03 (SD = 10.95), respectively. Regarding actions taken to prevent ischemic heart disease, a moderate level of preventive behaviors was reported by 57.82% of all the study subjects, 56.18% of the high risk group and 58.35% of the normal group. The mean prevention behavior score in the normal and high risk groups was 29.42 (SD = 4.80) and 28.84 (SD = 4.96), respectively. The findings of this study indicate the need for health personnel to improve knowledge on ischemic heart disease among the elderly so that they would be able to look after themselves and prevent the development of the disease.
Key words: ischemic heart disease, knowledge of ischemic heart disease, preventive behavior for ischemic heart disease