Knowledge if Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Women Aged 20-70 Years with Diabetes Mellitus at a Central Hospital in Zimbabwe

The purpose of the study was to assess the knowledge of cardiovascular disease risk factors in women aged 20 to 70 years with diabetes mellitus at a central hospital in Zimbabwe. A purposive sample of 67 women with diabetes mellitus, attending a diabetes clinic participated. An interview schedule, comprising of sixteen risk factors, adopted from the 25 item Heart Disease Fact Questionnaire and eight items, derived from literature, was used to measure heart disease risk factor knowledge and the link between diabetes and heart disease. Descriptive statistics, Pearson product moment correlation test and regression analysis were used to analyze data, at a significance level of < 0.05. Knowledge of cardiovascular disease risk factors was low (mean score = 13.4, SD = 5.7, range 0-21 out of 24), compared to earlier findings among Spanish speakers with diabetes mellitus (mean score = 17,5, SD = 5, range 0-24). Only residence was predictive of knowledge of cardiovascular disease risk factors (r = 0,308, p <.05. Thus residence is associated with increased knowledge. The effect of residence (R2 =. 095, F = 6.811, p = <. 05), explained 9.5% of the variance in knowledge of cardiovascular disease risk factors. The results showed that women with diabetes had low knowledge of established cardiovascular disease risk factors, mainly diet, family history and smoking. Provision of culturally relevant education should be prioritized to reduce cardiovascular disease risk in women with diabetes in Zimbabwe.