Knowledge, Attitute and Practices of Dietary Management among Ischemic Heart Diseases (IHD) Patients

Abstract

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) has become a major cause of deaths in the world. Unhealthy dietary pattern is an indirect risk factor which causes obesity, hyperlipidemia and high blood pressure. Assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practices related to dietary management is important to prevent unnecessary deaths due to IHD. Therefore a cross sectional study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices in dietary management among IHD patients using 150 patients who attended medical and cardiology clinics in Teaching Hospital Karapitiya by using an interviewer administered questionnaire. Considering their knowledge about the disease condition, nearly 40% of them had good knowledge about IHD. Similarly, 45.3% had good knowledge about dietary management. Fifty one percent of the sample was willing to have dietary management but only 27% in salt and 50% in fat like to reduce them. Knowledge and attitude about dietary management have significant relationship between level of education (know. - r = 0.48, p < 0.001, Atti. – r = 0.44, p < 0.001) and monthly income (know. – r = 0.35, p < 0.001, Atti. – r = 0.27, p < 0.001). Nearly 70% did not like to reduce salt intake while 50% did not like to reduce fat. Nearly 75% agreed to increase vegetable and fruits intake. There was a significant relationship between fruits and vegetables usage and level of education ( r = 0.64, p < 0.001) , monthly income (r = 0.31, p < 0.001) and nationality ( r = - 0.25, p = 0.002). Even after diagnosis of the disease a 62% in salt, 43% in fat and 87% in fruits and vegetable did not change the dietary pattern.