Conocimientos, actitudes y creencias en personas con sobrepeso-obesidad sobre riesgo cardiovascular en Lambayeque, Perú.

Objective: To explore the knowledge, attitudes and believes in overweight people on cardiovascular risk in the district of Chiclayo. Methods: Qualitative an ethnographic study. A probabilistic snowball sample with saturation of 23 participants was carried-out. Interviews were recorded and transcript, analyzing its content in categories. Results: Most of the participants did not know that obesity was a disease, but realized it was a risk factor to develop coronary artery disease; other participants did not know the meaning of the word or confused it with inadequate feeding habits. Most of the participants mentioned that their health status was bad. Some considered that being obese since childhood was normal, with no risk for their health. Reference to uncomfortable situations during routine daily activities was common. Participants mentioned the exclusive genetic origin of cardiovascular problems independent of body weight. Final thoughts: Women showed more concern about their health status and had similar knowledge than males independent of degree of education. Participants acknowledged being overweight, realizing that overweight-obesity were risk factors but no morbid conditions. Myocardial infarction was the most common event related to overweight. Cerebrovascular events were considered a common event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]