Table 3

Responses to attitude-related questions on cardiovascular disease

SNItemsMaleFemaleTotalp Value*
Number (%)Number (%)Number (%)
Attitude items on heart health
1I don't perceive myself to be at risk for heart disease (m=225/f=540)†58 (25.8)167 (30.9)225 (29.0)0.15
2I don't want to change my lifestyle (activity, smoking, alcohol) (m=229/f=548)148 (64.6)298 (54.4)446 (57.4)p<0.01
3I feel the amount of food I eat is too much, and I would like to cut down (m=229/f=543)† 35 (15.2)140 (25.5)175 (22.5)p<0.01
4I feel my present weight is too high for my health (m=229/f=548) 37 (14.9)130 (23.7)167 (21.5)0.02
5I don't think changing my behaviour will reduce my risk of developing heart disease (m=229/f=522)†145 (63.3)312 (56.9)457 (58.8)0.23
6I don't have time to take care of myself (m=229/f=548)77 (33.6)168 (30.7)245 (31.5)0.42
7God or a higher power ultimately determines my health (m=229/f=548)58 (25.3)149 (27.2)207 (26.6)0.59
Opinions on various preventive aspects of heart health that are helpful
8Access to more fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods (m=229/f=548)226 (98.6)533 (99.1)759 (99.1)−‡
9Greater access to indoor and outdoor public recreational facilities (m=229/f=548)200 (87.3)492 (89.7)692 (89.1)0.31
10Smoking bans (m=218/f=535)†209 (96.1)515 (96.2)724 (96.1)0.89
11More awareness programmes for a healthy heart (m=226/f=536)†214 (96.1)483 (90.1)697 (98.0)0.38
12Availability of health facilities to detect and treat heart diseases (m=226/f=531)†217 (96.1)524 (98.6)741 (97.9)0.02
13Local volunteers who shall try to change any adverse health behaviour (m=226/f=530)†186 (82.1)522 (98.5)708 (93.6)p<0.01
  • *Obtained from a χ² test.

  • †‘I do not know/cannot say’ answers were excluded from the analysis.

  • ‡Cannot be computed due to the expected frequency being less than 5.

  • m=number of males, f=number of females. Questions based on a 5-scale Likert questions (strongly disagree, somewhat disagree, I do not know, somewhat agree and strongly agree (question 1–7)/very helpful; somewhat helpful; I do not know; not very helpful; not at all helpful (question 8–13). We classified five options into three categories as ‘agree/helpful’, ‘disagree/not helpful’ and ‘I do not know’. Only ‘strongly agree’ or ‘very helpful’ and ‘agreed/somewhat helpful’ answers were merged and presented in the table and ‘I do not know/cannot say’ were excluded from the analysis.