Cardiovascular Diseases’ Awareness Among Women in Northern Jordan

BACKGROUND: Women’s awareness of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, is the cornerstone in promoting women’s health. Objectives: To examine the relationship of awareness levels about cardiovascular diseases and their related risk factors with demographic information of Jordanian women.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 18 years and older women. Scores of awareness were computed for each individual and were divided into 4 quartiles. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association of demographic information of participants with mean scores of quartiles. ANOVA analysis was used to compare the mean scores of quartiles.

RESULTS: A total of 514 women completed the questionnaire, with a mean age of 35.46 (±12.53). Current smokers were 6.2%, and 34.6% had a family history of heart disease. The proportion of diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and overweight/obesity were 15.6%, 19.3%, 14.4%, & 21.6% respectively. The mean score for awareness was 12.87 (+ 3.26). Women who had lower income and who were at younger age were more likely to score low in awareness.

CONCLUSION: Women illustrated a fair level of awareness of CVD and its related risk factors. Increasing women awareness of CVD through educational programs, targeted toward women at risk, assists in disease prevention and help to improve treatment plans.