Conhecimento leigo sobre doença vascular encefálica

Abstract

RESUMO -A magnitude das doenças vasculares encefálicas (DVE), com a sua prevalência, gravidade e elevados índices de morbi-mortalidade, faz com que se busquem formas de prevenção e de diagnóstico precoce. Considerando que as informações sobre os fatores de risco e os sintomas de DVE, pelos doentes de risco e pela população em geral, tem um papel preponderante nesta estratégia de tratamento, os autores buscaram conhecer qual o grau deste conhecimento em um grupo populacional amplo e variado. Assim, aplicou-se em 500 pessoas leigas um questionário de que constavam questões sobre os fatores de risco e sobre os sintomas de DVE com termos não médicos. Os resultados da análise estatística mostraram surpreendente conhecimento sobre os fatores de risco, a par de menor reconhecimento sobre os sintomas e sinais de doença vascular. Os autores detalham os achados e comentam sobre este aspecto importante das DVE. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: doença vascular encefálica, conhecimento leigo.Lay knowledge about stroke Lay knowledge about stroke Lay knowledge about stroke Lay knowledge about stroke Lay knowledge about stroke ABSTRACT -The significance of the risk factors and the rapid diagnosis of encephalic vascular disease (EVD) is the reason for this research, where the authors decided to register and analyze the non-medical people knowledge about these risk factors and the symptoms of this group of disease. For this purpose a questionnaire with questions about these facts was applied to 500 voluntaries without pre-selection, 72.6% of them with ages between 16-35 years old, and the answers analyzed by statistical methods. The authors recognized that the risk factors has a good level of knowledge by this population (87.8 % for hypertension, 76.8 % for smoking, 70.8 % for obesity, 68.7 % for sedentary persons, 66.7 % to stress, 66.3 % to alcohol ingest, 60.7 % for fat diet, 59 % to illicit drugs) while the signs and symptoms of EVD has a minor level of knowing and correction: lost sensitivity 70.3 %, headache 64.2 %, twisted mouth 59.5 %, lost or altered speech 57.5 %, dizziness 56 %, syncope 51.7 %, amaurosis 50.3 %, disequilibrium 45 %, deafness 31.2 %, weakness 41.1 %, nervousness 20.7%, chest pain 20.2 %, fatigue 15.3 % and tinnitus 18.9 %. According this data, the authors suggest that the correction or prevention of risk factors as well the precocious medical attention by the recognition of symptoms of EVD must be the object of public health programs.KEY WORDS: stroke, encephalic vascular disease, lay knowledge. As doenças vasculares encefálicas em geral são causa reconhecidamente importante de morbidade e de mortalidade na maioria dos meios humanos. Esta indesejável posição se deve especialmente a fatores de risco não identificados ou mal controlados [1][2][3][4][5][6] . Enquanto sintomas das doenças coronarianas são objeto de divulgação através dos meios de comunicação, com o objetivo de atendimento médico precoce, tal atitude não é habitual em relação às doenças vasculares do Sistema Nervoso. Todavia este quadro pode ser mudado se ho...

Awareness of stroke risk factors and warning signs in southern Brazil

“…Like previous studies 15,24 the most common identified risk factors of stroke were hypertension (93.6%), smoking (93.1%) and dyslipidemia (92.8%). We found that being younger than fifty years old as well as low socioeconomic level were risk factors for the lack of awareness about stroke risk factors.…”

“…This observation could be corroborated by the lack of knowledge about stroke characteristics in the general population 10,11,14,15,23 . Even though a reasonable proportion of the participants of our study (70.5%) knew the definition of stroke, almost 30% of respondents did not know the answer (7.6%) or misidentified cerebrovascular disease with a heart or vascular disease (21.9%).…”

“…We found that being younger than fifty years old as well as low socioeconomic level were risk factors for the lack of awareness about stroke risk factors. Novak et al 15 found association between low educational level and lack of knowledge about stroke risk factors. Family history of stroke was previously associated with the level of awareness towards stroke but we did not found these association 10 .…”

Guidelines for acute ischemic stroke treatment: part I

“…However, only a minority of patients arrive at emergency rooms on time to benefit from reperfusion therapies for the region affected by ischemia or for control of intracerebral hemorrhage [22][23] . This delay is due to a series of factors, including lack of knowledge of stroke warning signs to underutilization of specialized rescue services, as the Serviço de Atendimento Móvel de Urgência -SAMU (Mobile Emergency Service) in Brazil 12,20,[24][25][26] . Many studies have demonstrated that utilization of private vehicles or previous contact with a primary care physician increase the time between stroke onset and hospital admission, often delaying or contraindicating reperfusion therapy [27][28][29][30][31] .…”

Perception of stroke symptoms and utilization of emergency medical services

“…Data from Brazil show an alarming lack of knowledge of stroke symptoms and activation of EMS in the general population 12,13 . However, there are no studies exploring this topic in patients with prior stroke 14 .…”