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KNOWLEDGE OF HEART DISEASE AND INDICES OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN HEALTH AND NON-HEALTH BASED MAJORS

Abstract

K. Sanchez, E. Dunston, C. Brewer

Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality and is associated with modifiable lifestyle factors, such as physical activity (PA). Research has examined CVD knowledge (CVDK) and PA level in undergraduate students; however, no research has examined the relationship between CVDK and PA in this group. PURPOSE: To examine differences in CVDK and indices of PA between sex and major (health (HB) or non-health (NHB) based) and potential associations between CVDK and PA. METHODS: Students (N=241) completed an online survey including the 30-item Heart Disease Knowledge Questionnaire and 7-item International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Twenty-four outliers were removed prior to statistical analyses (n=217; 21.1±2.7 yrs; 145 females, 141 HB majors). Independent samples t-tests were conducted to test for differences in total (TK), dietary (DK), epidemiological (EK), medical (MK), risk factor (RFK), and symptom (SK) knowledge, as well as weekly frequency and duration of moderate PA (MPA), vigorous PA (VPA), and total MET-min/week of MVPA between sex and major. Alpha was adjusted for multiple comparisons. Pearson’s r was used to test for linear associations between TK and PA indices. RESULTS: Sixty-seven percent of students met recommended PA guidelines with a minimum of 500 MET-min/week of MVPA. Females had greater RFK than males (4.6±1.6 vs. 4.0±1.6, p=0.006). HB majors had significantly higher TK (18.4±5.0 vs. 15.3±5.3, p0.05). Males reported significantly higher levels of MVPA than females (2300.7±2377.7 vs. 1441.9±1348.6 MET-min/week, p0.05). CONCLUSION: HB majors had greater knowledge than NHB majors in all areas except SK; however, there were no differences in PA levels between majors. This suggests that CVDK may not translate to increased PA levels in undergraduates. Future research should investigate relationships between CVDK and risk reduction behaviors in this population.

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