Health attitudes, their parameters, and self-rated health in participants of the preventive effort

In this paper, we analyzed health attitudes, their parameters, and self-rated health in participants of the preventive effort “World Heart Day”. We studied prevalence of hypertension, smoking, overweight, consumption of fruits and vegetables as well as the factors related to high self-rated health and needs for training in the program “Health School for Patients with CVD”. The results are discussed in a comparative perspective with respect to the correspondent population rates. We found that high self-rated health and trust in preventive potential of modern medicine were more common in women participating in the effort than in the general population. The prevalence of main risk factors for CVD and other health attitude parameters in effort participants did not significantly differ compared with the population rates. Half of participants were interested in attending the training in the Health School. The most important objective markers of high self-rated health were normal blood pressure, number of cardiovascular risk factors, and body mass index