title: Cardiovascular health awareness and the effect of an educational intervention on school-aged children in a rural district of India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  India is the second most populous country in the world and two-thirds of its population is less than 35 years old. This survey was conducted to assess the level of health awareness of cardiovascular disease in adolescent school-aged children 14-16 years old, with the goal of establishing school-based health education and development of heart-healthy lifestyle practices.
  
  
  METHODS
  A school-based survey was conducted in the rural district of West Midnapore, India between June and July of 2014. This involved a pre-evaluation of cardiovascular disease (CVD) health awareness, a short presentation on CVD, and a post-evaluation of CVD health awareness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 2995 students (48% response rate) from 20 schools participated in the survey. The mean age of the students in the study sample was 14.7 years, 46% were male, 53% were in the 9th grade, and the rest were in the 10th grade. After assessing students' awareness in six domains with 20 multiple-choice questions with a maximum score of 100, the mean pre-test score was 41.1 (SD±10.5) and the mean post-test score was 48.1 (SD±16.9) (p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Awareness of CVD and its risk factors was far from optimal among the adolescent school-aged children in this study. A school-based educational program may help improve awareness of CVD and reduce the future disease burden in the community. The results of this study may be useful in formulating a nationwide school health program to deal with the emerging epidemic of CVD in countries such as India.
authors.affiliation: Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States; Department of Hospital Medicine, Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, Burlington, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Madhab
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ray
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Kolkata Medical College, Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Santanu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guha
authors.affiliation: Andover High School, Andover, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Meghna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ray
authors.affiliation: Liberty High School, Bethlehem, PA, United States.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kundu
authors.affiliation: West Middle School, Andover, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Bipasha
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ray
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, St Luke's University Health Network, Bethlehem, PA, United States.
authors.forename: Kaushik
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kundu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia Asia Hospital, Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Santanu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goswami
authors.affiliation: Brigham and Women's Hospital Heart & Vascular Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Deepak L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Bhatt
authors.affiliation: Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States. Electronic address: hselker@tuftsmedicalcenter.org.
authors.forename: Harry P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Selker
authors.affiliation: Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States; Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Goldberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001364:Awareness; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D012572:School Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Cardiovascular disease prevention; Health awareness; Risk factors; School health program; Survey