A SURVEY OF DIET KNOWLEDGE AND EATING BEHAVIOR OF CORONARY-ARTERY BYPASS GRAFT-SURGERY PATIENTS - IMPLICATIONS FOR DIETARY COUNSELING

This survey compared the diet knowledge and eating behaviour of corona ry artery by-pass graft surgery (CABGS) patients who had received coun selling Aom a registered dietitian with those who had not. Also, the c ardiac knowledge of CABGS patients was tampered to population data fro m the Ontario Heart Health Survey. Subjects had attended the Cardiac C are Clinic, Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation, General Division bet ween September 1993 and September 1994, and were identified hosed on t he criterion of counselled (C) or non counselled (NC). A questionnaire , developed by the investigators to assess both knowledge and eating b ehaviour, was mailed to potential subjects' homes. This questionnaire yielded two summary stores; one for knowledge and the other for eating behaviour. One hundred and thirty-six (68%) subjects returned complet ed questionnaires; 67 were NC and 69 were C. The two groups were compa rable with respect to age (mean=64; SD=8.8), gender (both groups 85% m ole, 15% female) and length of time since surgery (mean C=17.9 months; mean NC=18.2 months). Both C and NC hear? patients had more knowledge with respect to nutrition and heart disease than the general populati on of Ontario. Knowledge and eating behaviour were not correlated in e ither the C or NC group. However, based on Student's t-tests, there wa s a significant difference between the C and NC groups on the eating b ehaviour score (t=2.11; P<0.05). Results support the work of other out hors who have found that knowledge is not necessarily associated with behaviour. Additionally, findings suggest that despite high levels of acquired nutrition knowledge, there remains a role for registered die titians in assisting individuals to translate this knowledge into beha viour.