Aging is an Important Cause for a Lack of Understanding of the Main Risk Factor in Cardiac Rehabilitation Patients

Age, one of the key biomarkers among the nonclinical parameters of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), has the greatest effect on the development and progression of CVDs. The current study was done to evaluate the effect of age on cardiac rehabilitation (CR) patients’ attitudes regarding the main cause of their condition. The administrative data of this cross-sectional study were obtained from the database of the CR department of a hospital in Iran. The demographic and clinical information of 901 patients was obtained from January 2004 and January 2012 using compiled forms of this database and the structured clinical interview for Axis I Disorders (SCID-I). Univariate analysis of variance and Bonferroni post-hoc analysis were used for the data analysis. After adjusting for gender, it was revealed that significant age differences existed between patients who perceived no specific risk factors (62.43 years) and those who viewed biological (55.0), physiological (57.31), behavioral (57.85), and psychological (57.25) risk factors as the main cause of their condition (P < 0.05). The age differences between those who had no perceived risk factors (62.43) was significantly different from patients perceiving biological (55.0) and environmental (62.03) factors to be the main cause (P < 0.05). Although older patients need more self-care and the quality of this self-care originates from their attitude toward CVD risk factors, their lack of awareness about the main risk factor of their condition is a major challenge for secondary prevention measures. In addition, younger patients’ significant emphasis on biological risk factors as uncorrectable factors can reduce their sense of responsibility toward attempting to control correctable risk factors. Correcting these patients’ attitudes regarding CVD risk factors can result in better responsibility feeling by the patients and can improve treatment outcomes