The public’s perspective on cardiovascular risk information
CRB researcher Åsa Grauman was awarded the Swedish Society for Risk Sciences' award to promising junior researchers 2022 for her doctoral thesis about the publics’ perspective on cardiovascular risk information. She gave an appreciated presentation of her work at the annual meeting of the Swedish Society for Risk Sciences, which is now available on YouTube.
How someone understands an illness also affects their attitudes to taking preventive action. In one of her studies, Åsa Grauman investigated how Swedes aged 40 to 70 perceive the cause of heart infarctions and their beliefs about how much they can influence their own personal risk. Results show a high level of awareness among the participants about the causal impact of risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, smoking, and lack of exercise, on heart disease. However, people having those risk factors were less convinced about the casual link between their own risk factor and having a heart attack.
(Image removed) Åsa Grauman, photo by David Naylor
“The most important take home message from the thesis is that it is common to underestimate your individual cardiovascular risk, especially if you feel fine and lack a family history, even if you have knowledge about common risk factors. Feedback from health examinations and consultations with health professionals is therefore important”, Åsa Grauman concludes.
Want to know more? Have a look at Åsa Grauman’s doctoral thesis.
Watch her presentation to learn more!