Abstract
Background: cardiovascular diseases is currently the major source of death in the developing countries especially in Saudi Arabia due to low activity, bad food habits, smocking and obesity.
Objectives: This study was performed to assess patient's awareness to factors precipitating myocardial infarction (MI) in Saudi Arabia.
Patients and Methods: This cross sectional study included 280 individual who filled an Electronic Questionnaire about the patient's knowledge about the factors precipitating myocardial infarction
Results: According to the survey taken, there are many precipitating factors of myocardial infarction as: sex, where it is more in men than in women and 84% of the individuals were aware of it. Overweight, 81%of subjects aware of it. Consumption of high starch and saturated fatty acids foods, 92.9% of subjects aware of it. High blood pressure, 81.6% of subjects aware of it. Diabetes, 40% of subjects aware of it. Depression for long duration, 50% of the subjects were aware of it. Decreased physical activity and sedentary life, 81.1% of the individuals were aware of it. Smoking, 83.3% of the individuals were aware of it.
Conclusion: our study revealed that the average awareness of an out- patient about myocardial infarction causes is good enough, but most of the patients are unaware about how other medical problems as diabetes, elevated blood pressure, and depression are related to myocardial infarction.