Assessment of the Awareness and Practice in Hail Region Population of Saudi Arabia toward Atherosclerosis Principle

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease of medium and large arteries because of endothelial dysfunction. It can cause major complications like ischemic heart attack and stroke. Out of the total CVDs deaths, ischemic heart attack was responsible for 8.92 million and stroke was responsible for 6.33 million deaths in all world. Unfortunately, these conditions and their risk factors have been increasing among the community. Therefore, this study will focus to assess the awareness and preventive practice toward atherosclerosis. Objectives: the study aims to assess the awareness and practice of the selected population toward atherosclerosis to provide the knowledge that helps to prevent and decrease the disease in the future.  Methods: an analytics cross-sectional community-based design was adopted for this research. Participants are Male and females aged from 20-70 years from Hail region of Saudi Arabia who is not diagnosed with atherosclerosis.  Results: A total of 396 participants are included (48% male and 52% female). More than half of them (63%) were 20-29 years old. The awareness level and the preventive practice were higher in participants age ≥40 years than younger adults (20-39 years). The males had a better practice toward atherosclerosis more than it was found in females. Conclusion: This study showed that half of the participants were aware of atherosclerosis in general, but it showed insufficient awareness about the symptoms and the main risk factors specifically which affect the prevention and identification of the disease. Therefore, this calls for the need for programs targeting the importance of regular medical checkups and the need for plans involve the public and people at risk into prevention and risk factors education campaigns.