Little bit of knowledge 'bad for heart'

A Dubai Health Authority report released at the World Congress of Cardiology shows a link between lack of education and greater risk of heart disease.

DUBAI // A little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing for cardiovascular health, doctors say.

Dr Michael Lefkovits, a specialist cardiologist at EHL Dubai Mall Medical Centre, said people with less education have access to a great deal of information but may not know how to interpret it.

"People can be under-educated but over-informed," Dr Lefkovits said. "They get little bits and pieces of information from the internet, from newspapers and from friends. They get a lot of information that they need help with."

A report by the Dubai Health Authority was released at the World Congress of Cardiology in Dubai, which ends today, showed a link between lack of education and greater risk of heart disease.

The study found that the prevalence of cardiovascular disease was almost 20 per cent higher in people who had not finished university.

It showed 39 per cent of those who did not begin or finish higher education had cardiovascular disease, compared with 21 per cent of university-educated participants. The number of people who took part was unavailable.

Dr Lefkovits said doctors had an important role to play by giving patients basic advice.

"[Patients] will put all their efforts into having a healthy diet, forgetting about exercise, or they will exercise constantly and forget about a balanced diet," he said.

Heart disease caused 22 per cent of deaths in the UAE last year.