Knowledge of young African American adults about heart disease: a cross-sectional survey

A convenience sample of 172 African American men and women aged 18-26 years completed a questionnaire adapted from the American Heart Association national surveys. Descriptive statistics were compared by age, gender, education level, and health status variables including BMI, smoking status, and physical activity.Some aspects of heart-disease were well known among young adult African Americans. Knowledge of certain other important risk factors (menopause) and preventive behaviors (eating fewer animal products), however, was more variable and inconsistent among the respondents. Differences in knowledge of individual variables was greater by education level than by gender overall. Predictors of a summary CVD knowledge score included higher education, female gender, and high self-efficacy (adjusted R2 = 0.158, p < .001). Predictors of self-efficacy in changing CVD risk were higher education and perceived low risk of CVD (adjusted R2 = 0.064, p < .001), but these characteristics explained only 6% of the variance.Evaluation of baseline knowledge of CVD is essential before designing and implementing health promotion programs. Existing strengths and weaknesses in knowledge can guide tailoring of programs to be more effective. Further research would help to identify the range of other characteristics that determine knowledge and risk perception.Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, claiming approximately 700,000 lives-nearly 30% of all United States (US) deaths-each year [1]. African Americans constitute 12.8% of the US population, yet their risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) is three times greater than Whites and they also have twice the risk of mortality [2,3]. To complicate matters further, African Americans have higher premature CVD deaths than Whites and may have earlier onset of disease [4,5].Differences in access to and quality of health care, dietary intakes, lifestyle factors (e.g., smoking), neighborhood characteristics, so