Effectiveness of health literacy intervention on cardiovascular diseases among university students of Pakistan

Background: Global burden of cardiovascular diseases is alarming which is intricately linked with health literacy. To what extent improvement in health literacy can lower down cardiovascular diseases occurrence has not yet properly documented. This study focused on assessing the knowledge and existing lifestyle behavior about cardiac diseases among university students. We further aimed to improve this awareness after imparting an educational intervention among undergraduate non-medical students to sensitize them about risk factors. Method: A pre and post approaches with cross sectional study design was conducted in University of Gujrat during April-September 2017. Using structured questionnaire comprising of response items about hypertension, heart attack, stroke and preventive practices, data was randomly collected from students (n = 100). Survey respondents were also given a lecture regarding cardiovascular diseases awareness and a post test evaluation was also conducted on same group of students. Results: With response rate of 86.95%, mean age of participating students was 21.2 (SD +/- 1.34) years. Female students comprised of 53% out of which 57% were from rural background. Assessment of cardiovascular disease knowledge revealed maximum mean pre test score 30.53 (SD +/- 7.61) and for post test 40.65 (SD +/- 4.34) (p < 0.00). Mean score for using preventive practices was 13.02 (SD +/- 2.97) for pre test whereas for post test it was 14.09 (SD +/- 2.90) (p < 0.00). Intervention impact was significant on hypertension related complications (p < 0.000), symptoms of heart attack (p < 0.000), symptoms of stroke (p < 0.000) and preventive practices (p < 0.00). Conclusion: Findings presented here show a fair degree of awareness among university students about study title prior to any educational intervention. However, by attending educational session, a significant increase in the positive lifestyle behavior and knowledge was noticed. We conclude that health promotion activities in educational institutes to sensitize students can bring rational changes in Pakistani society to promote healthy behavior and minimize cardiovascular disease risks.