ABSTRACT
Background: Acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) is a condition of the heart that occurs when blood flowto the heart muscles is stopped abruptly. The disruption in blood flow to the heart muscles is usually caused by ablockage of one or several coronary arteries. Heart attacks can be fatal owing to the critical functions performedby blood in the heart. Fatalities arising from heart attacks are witnessed all over the world. The difference infatality rates of heart attacks is highly dependent on the exposure to risk factors such as smoking and obesity.Healthy living populations will rarely encounter high cases of a heart attack. This study was set out to assess anddocument the knowledge level of acute myocardial infarction patients regarding the modifiable risk factors of aheart attack in Saudi Arabia. Patients suffering from a heart attack are at great danger of fatality. Knowledge ofmodifiable factors can promote healthy living habits and behaviors among them. Methods: A cross-sectionalsurvey was developed to assess knowledge levels of acute myocardial infarction patients in the three cities ofRiyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam. A total of 123 participants were recruited through convenient sampling across15 hospitals in the cities. The eligibility criteria for recruitment included a mandatory age of 18 years and SaudiArabian citizenship. Participants were issued with questionnaires containing different questions on modifiablerisk factors (fatty foods, vegetables, fruits, smoking, physical exercise, and obesity). Results: Five out of the sixmodifiable factors represented knowledge levels of less than 50%. Participants were only knowledgeable on therisk factor of obesity which saw 52.8% associating it with a heart attack. Conclusion: There is a need to boosteducation and awareness among acute myocardial infarction patients in Saudi Arabia.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the status quo of knowledge-attitude-behavior about organ donation willingness and death attitudes of medical students majoring in nursing (nursing students). Methods A total of 409 nursing students from 3 medical colleges in Tianjin were recruited as study subjects by convenient sampling method. A crosssectional survey was carried out using organ donation scale and Chinese version of death attitude scale. Questionnaire input was performed by Epidata 3.1 software. The general situation of 409 nursing students was sumed up. The status quo of the knowledge-attitude-behavior about organ donation among nursing students and the correlation between the attitude towards death and the willingness to donate organs was analyzed. Results The nursing students lacked of comprehensive understanding of organ donation knowledge. A majority of nursing students held neutral or slightly positive attitudes towards organ donation. Only 10.5% of nursing students were willing to donate organs. Nursing students were inclined to death natural acceptance. Organ donation willingness was correlated with death attitudes. The fear of death was the primary factor affecting the organ donation willingness of nursing students (P<0.05). Conclusions At present, a small proportion of nursing students are willing to donate organs and they are affected by the fear of death. Social and medical colleges should strengthen the death education for nursing students to establish positive death attitudes and promote the development of organ donation.