Participants' CVD risk-perception inaccuracy was also high (76%) primarily due to underestimation. Agreement between participants perceived-risk and the nl-FRS was poor (kappa = 0.0002, standard error = 0.023, p =0.99). Approximately three-fourths (72.4%) had a moderate nl-FRS risk calculation (mean, 13.84, 95% CI: 13.36-14.33). The majority (58.62%) of the participants had a low subjective risk perception of CVD events (mean 17.79, 95% CI: 17.43-18.15). Participants (n=377) had a mean age of 53.61 ± 12.80-years, range (18-82 years), 51.2% were males, 42.7% had less than high school education, 45.1% achieved target BP control, and mean HTN duration was 8.01 ± 6.07 years.

The statistical significance was set at a p-value < 0.05 level. Bivariate chi-square test and multinomial logistic regression analyses were run to identify factors associated with risk perceptions. Agreement between participants' risk perceptions and the nl-FRS were examined using the kappa statistic. The Attitudes and Beliefs about Cardiovascular Disease Risk Questionnaire and the nl-FRS were used to compare subjective versus objective measures of CVD risk. Thus, the study aimed to compare the subjective CVD risk perception level of patients with the nonlaboratory Framingham Risk Score (nl-FRS).Ī cross-sectional design was used. However, hypertensive patients' risk perceptions of CVD events in Ethiopia are unknown. This is particularly true regarding risks falling under the ambit of personal control, such as alcoholism, lung cancer, and STDs.Accurate cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk appraisal is essential for hypertensive patients to identify correctly their risk status and take efficient behavioral measures timely to avoid major adverse outcomes.

It is the unrealistic optimism of the latter which is detrimental to health.Weinstein first establishes that the majority of people are unrealistically optimistic about their health and future health risks. Finally, Taylor differentiates between ‘constructive optimists,’ who are proactive in matters of health, and ‘naïve optimists,’ who abdicate effort in the blind confidence that things will take care of themselves. She contends that there is no evidence showing unrealistic optimism to be the cause of smoking or its continuance. Taylor cites an interesting scientific study that associates optimism with higher immunity against illness and infection.

Taylor also links optimism with “good coping strategies” (Taylor, P.5), which incorporate successful interpersonal relationships, which lead, in turn, to a beneficial social support mechanism in problem resolution. Likewise, in the case of heart transplant patients and those recovering from coronary artery by-pass surgery, unrealistic optimism is associated with faster, better quality recovery. This is also true in the case of cancer patients, where the optimists live longer. Taylor further bolsters her argument by citing studies that show that AIDS patients with unrealistically optimistic outlooks follow better health habits and have a longer lifespan than their more pessimistic fellow patients.

She supports this claim by stating that such optimists are more aware of pertinent information regarding health. However, she asserts that such “unrealistic optimism may actually lead people to practice better health habits” (Taylor, Paragraph 2). Taylor concedes that the majority of people are unrealistically optimistic about their health.

Unrealistic optimism example