Knowledge, awareness and perceived risk of heart disease among high school students with and without cardiovascular disease in the family

Family history (FH) is an established, non-modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). We evaluated awareness of high school students (HSS) on CVD in their family, knowledge of atherosclerosis risk factors, and perception of their personal CVD risk using the validated heart disease fact questionnaire (HDFQ). We conducted a cross-sectional study that included HSS from a single private co-educational school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Self-administered online surveys were used to obtain information on demographic factors, family structure and health history, social media access and knowledge on major atherosclerosis risk factors. The knowledge scale of participants for each question was scored based on the percentage of correct responses to the question as poor if < 50%, moderate if between 50% and 69%, good if between 70% and 89% and excellent if ≥ 90%. Overall, 92 students with mean (SD) age of 14.7 (0.6) years completed the survey. Most respondents (88%) felt that their family heart health history was important for their own health. The proportion of HSS correctly identifying various atherosclerosis risk factors were: age (70-89%), smoking tobacco (70-89%), high blood pressure (70-90%), total cholesterol (70%-90%), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (≥ 90%), high density lipoprotein cholesterol, HDL-C (50-69%), overweight (≥ 90%), physical activity (70-89%) and diabetes (70-90%). Relative to those without a FH, HSS with CVD in their families had greater overall knowledge on the impact of CVD risk factors with a median total score of 88% versus 76% [odds ratio (95% CI): 6.22 (1.10–35.36)] and importance of FH (97.1% versus 57.1%) on future heart health. Based on our knowledge scale, HSS had good to excellent knowledge of atherosclerosis risk factors and the impact of CVD in their families on their future heart health, but their knowledge on HDL-C was moderate. The overall knowledge of heart disease and relevance of FH on future heart health was better among HSS with CVD in their families.