CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Volume 33, No 4, July/August 2022 184 AFRICA lower-leg oedema as typical of HF and 31% indicated growing old as a reason for HF.18 Moreover, one of the characteristic symptoms of HF, dyspnoea, was indicated in our study by 94, 90 and 81%, respectively, for each age group (Table 2). In addition, fatigue, typical of HF, was indicated by 87, 75 and 70%, respectively (Table 2). Comparing this with the 2015 study in Germany, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia, where almost 60% of the respondents were over 60 years of age, our study obtained a higher percentage of correct answers, particularly in the younger group of respondents.18 In the 2015 study, only 61% indicated fatigue as a typical symptom of HF, and dyspnoea was chosen by 71% of respondents.18 Analysing these results, we found a trend, where the older the age group, the smaller the percentage correctly indicated the typical symptoms of HF. Undoubtedly, the elderly group of people deserves appropriate education because they are particularly vulnerable to HF. One important issue raised in our survey was physical activity and its avoidance by HF patients. In all the questioned groups (the three age groups, HF and non-HF patients, HF patients’ relatives and respondents without family members who were HF sufferers) the majority of respondents believed that patients should not abstain from physical activity. Looking at the negative or indecisive answers to the question whether HF patients should play sport, approximately one-third of respondents believed sport was not advisable or they did not know the answer to this question. Despite the passage of years and increased efforts in education of the general public, awareness on this most elemental issue of disease prevention remains unchanged. This has been confirmed in the compilation of the results of our study, which are slightly better in this regard but still not satisfactory, compared with the 2005 study where 61% of people surveyed thought that HF patients needed to reduce their physical activity.10 Results 1 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Patients (%) Young Middle aged Older 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 * * * * * * * * * * * * Fig. 4. Response to the question ‘What is the source of your knowledge about diseases and healthy lifestyle?’ according to age group. Statistically significant, p < 0.05. 100 80 60 40 20 0 Patients (%) Young Middle aged Older 77% Yes Not interested 10% 7% 78% 73% 14% Fig. 5. Response to the question ‘Do you need more information about HF?’ according to age group.
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