A “KAP” SURVEY OF FEMALE UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL STUDENTS OF AN ARAB COMMUNITY, REGARDING CORONARY HEART DISEASE AND ITS ASSOCIATION TO EATING HABITS AND PHYSICAL INACTIVITY -

OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of female undergraduate medical students regarding coronary heart diseases. STUDY DESIGN: A survey research. PLACE AND DURATION: Public University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 1st November – 31st December 2013. METHODOLOGY: A questionnaire was designed to reflect the knowledge, attitude and daily practices of the students. A total of 100 students, from 2nd and 3rd year Medical program of a public university in Saudi Arabia were randomly distributed the questionnaire. Incomplete forms were excluded from the study (n=97). After filling in the responses, a percentage analysis was done. RESULTS: The results reflected a deficient knowledge of coronary heart diseases among students, especially unawareness of the risk factors. Fifty one and 38% of the students respectively did not know the association of physical inactivity and over-eating, to coronary heart disease. Non-healthy attitudes and practices of frequent junk food consumption (30%), overeating (13%), and inactive lifestyle (77%) was observed in the survey. CONCLUSION: Proper counseling and training of the medical students for better understanding of the disease and its risk factor prevention is required.