Assessment of cardiovascular disease risk and knowledge levels of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in persons with diabetes

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess of cardiovascular diseases' risks and knowledge levels of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in persons with diabetes. Materials and Methods: This study which is analitic and cross-sectional type research, was conducted with 187 type 1 and type 2 persons with diabetes who hospitalized at least 24 hours in a public hospital. The data were collected by a individual identification form, Q-Risk2-2014 Cardiovascular Disease Risk Calculator and The Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Knowledge Level (CARRF-KL) Scale. Mean±Standard Deviation, number, percentile, t test, Mann Whitney u test, Kruskal Wallis test, pearson correlation and regression were used in statistical analysis. Results: The mean age of diabetic persons were 61,566±10,56 (30-84) years, 61% were female. The diabetic persons' mean scores of QRisk-2 were found 35,24±16,63 (1,00-80,40) and the diabetic persons' mean scores of CARRF-KL were found 16,94±3,74 (5,00-25,00). Increasing ages was found increasing cardiovascular diseases' risks in persons with diabetes and the cardiovascular diseases' risks were found higher in men than women. Increasing ages was found decreasing cardiovascular diseases' risk factors knowledge in diabetic persons and the knowledge levels were found higher in married diabetics than single diabetics. It was found that no relationship significantly between cardiovascular disease risk and risk factors knowledge levels. Conclusions: The results of this study show that the cardiovascular disease risk was high in persons with diabetes, and their cardiovascular disease risk factor knowledge was middle. According to this; persons with diabetes should be monitored closely for cardiovascular diseases' risks, and persons with diabetes should be given information about cardiovascular risk factors while persons with diabetes are being educated.