Background: Inadequate cardiovascular disease (CVD) knowledge has been cited to account for the imperfect decline in CVD among women over the last 2 decades.
Hypothesis: Due to concerns that at-risk women might not know the leading cause of death or symptoms of a heart attack, our goal was to assess the relationship between CVD knowledge race/ethnicity, education, and body mass index (BMI).
Methods: Using a structured questionnaire, CVD knowledge, socio-demographics, risk factors, and BMI were evaluated in 681 women.
Results: Participants included Hispanic, 42.1% (n = 287); non-Hispanic white (NHW), 40.2% (n = 274); non-Hispanic black (NHB), 7.3% (n = 50); and Asian/Pacific Islander (A/PI), 8.7% (n = 59). Average BMI was 26.3 ± 6.1 kg/m2. Hypertension was more frequent among overweight (45%) and obese (62%) than normal weight (24%) (P 12 years (both P < 0.0001).
Conclusions: Effective prevention strategies for at-risk populations need to escalate CVD knowledge and awareness among the undereducated and minority women
