Risk Factors, Subjective Symptoms, Knowledge of Coronary Artery Disease and Preventive Health Practices in Postmenopausal Women

Jung, Jungja; Kim, Namcho

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate postmenopausal women's risk factors and subjective symptoms of coronary artery disease, their knowledge about the risk factors and their performance of health behaviors. METHOD: The subjects were 285 women aged between 50~60 who had naturally reached menopause. We interviewed them using a questionnaire on the subjects' risk factors of coronary artery disease, their knowledge about the risk factors and their performance of preventive health behaviors. Collected data was analyzed through t-test, ANOVA & Duncan test.
RESULTS
Risk factors of coronary artery disease observed in the subjects were diabetes (10.9%), hypertension (22.8%) and hyperlipidemia (14.7%). Symptoms of coronary artery disease were experienced more by those who had diabetes, smoked, had a history of coronary artery disease, and thought that they might have coronary artery disease. With regard to the subjects' knowledge about the risk factors of coronary artery disease, the average score was 13.88 out of 20 points.
CONCLUSION
The results of this study suggest that postmenopausal women have several risk factors of coronary arterial disease but they did not have sufficient knowledge about the risk factors and did not manage the factors appropriately.