Abstract P136: Young Women Accept a Developmentally Appropriate Cardiovascular Risk Assessment Tool That Changes Their Perceived Risk of Heart Disease

Abstract

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death for women in the US, yet many young women are unaware of their lifetime risk of CVD. We employed user-centered design principles to adapt a validated CVD risk prediction tool for young women. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that young women would rate the tool (HerHeart) as user-friendly, be likely to recommend it to their friends, experience a change in their perceived risk of CVD, and report intent to change their health habits after engaging with it. Methods: We recruited 13 young women ages 13-21 from two clinical practices in Atlanta, GA to engage with the HerHeart CVD risk prediction tool. Participants rated the tool’s usability via the Website Analysis and Measurement Inventory (WAMMI), which is scored from 0 to 100. Participants rated their perceived 10-year and lifetime risk of CVD on a visual analog scale from 0 (Never going to happen) to 10 (Definitely will happen) before and after completing the tool. Participants reported their likelihood of recommending the tool to their friends and changing their health habits from 0 (Not likely at all) to 10 (Extremely likely). Results: Participants rated the tool’s usability highly on the WAMMI (M = 78.62 +/- 9.70). Participants’ perceived 10-year risk of a heart attack increased from a mean of 0.85 +/- 0.99 to 1.83 +/- 1.90, and perceived lifetime risk increased from a mean of 2.38 +/- 2.72 to 2.75 +/- 2.63, on the 10-point scale after engaging with the tool. Participants were more than likely to recommend HerHeart to their friends (M = 8.00 +/- 2.22) and to report intent to change their health habits (M = 8.82 +/- 1.47) after completing the tool. Participant data captured in the HerHeart tool are shown in the Table. Conclusions: The HerHeart tool is acceptable to young women and demonstrates potential for changing their risk perception and improving their health habits to reduce their risk of CVD. Recruitment is ongoing and will include input from clinicians on the feasibility of incorporating the tool in clinical practice.