From Misperception to Prevention: Improving Cardiovascular Health and Risk Perception Through Risk Communication in...

Effective cardiovascular prevention requires improved risk perception and appropriate communication strategies that support cost-effective interventions. This study evaluated one-year changes in cardiovascular risk estimation accuracy and examined associations between communication strategies, accuracy, and health outcomes.

We analyzed 200 participants (mean age: 56.06 ± 6.26; 32.2% male) in a population-based study conducted in Hungary. Cardiovascular risk was calculated using the Framingham Risk Score based on laboratory and anthropometric measures, and subjective risk perception was assessed and categorized as realistic, optimistic, or pessimistic relative to objective risk. All participants received written risk feedback, while subgroups additionally participated in individual or group-based risk communication.

After 12 months, the proportion of participants with accurate risk perception increased from 39.0% to 50.5% (p = 0.012), accompanied by a significant reduction in pessimistic estimations (p = 0.013). We could not observe significant differences in estimation accuracy between communication strategies. The written-only communication group showed a significant decrease in cardiovascular risk factors (weight (p = 0.014), BMI (p = 0.042), blood pressure (p = 0.035), and LDL levels (p = 0.001)). No significant differences were found in health outcomes between risk communication groups.

These results demonstrate that even written-only communication may be an effective way to improve cardiovascular health outcomes, possibly by correcting risk perception gaps, suggesting that cost-effective, low-intensity communication strategies may be sufficient to support primary prevention efforts.