Knowledge and use of sublingual glyceryl trinitrate in cardiac patients at the cardiology unit of National Hospital of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Introduction: Angina is a common symptom of Ischemic heart disease (IHD) and it is managed with sublingual glyceryl trinitrate(SLGTN). The objective of the study was to assess the knowledge and use of sublingual glyceryl trinitrate in cardiac patients at cardiology wards, National Hospital of Sri Lanka(NHSL). Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted using convenient sampling of the diagnosed IHD patients at Cardiology Unit, NHSL from 06th to 31st January 2020. Data were collected using a pretested, validated, interviewer administered questionnaire, prepared according to NHS guidelines, and analyzed using SPSS software. The associations between age, gender, education, monthly income and duration of SLGTN use with the knowledge and use of GTN were analyzed. The Chi square test was used to study the significance of the associations. Results: A total of 125 patients were recruited. Among the respondents, 56.2%(n=70) had satisfactory knowledge and 43.8%(n=55) had poor knowledge. Of the patients, 69.1%(n=86) reported proper use and 30.9%(n=39) had improper use. Females had significantly higher knowledge than males (p=0.003). Patients who had not passed GCE(O/L) had higher knowledge than the patients who had passed GCE(O/L); (p=0.001). Of the 51 patients who did not pass GCE(O/L), 70.58% (n=36) had satisfactory knowledge and of the 74 patients who passed GCE (O/L) 47.3%(n=35) had satisfactory knowledge. There was no association between age, monthly income and duration of SLGTN use with the knowledge and use of SLGTN. Conclusions: Overall, our respondents had a satisfactory level of knowledge on use of SLGTN, and constituted a near normal distribution. However, significant number of patients lacked knowledge on some aspects and had poor use. Males had a significantly poor knowledge compared to females. These findings indicate that further education and counseling is needed. As we used convenient sampling our study population/results may not be applicable for entire population.