Knowledge of Risk Factors and Warning Signs of Stroke Among Patients with Heart Disease at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital

Abstract

Background Stroke is a leading cause of mortality and disability worldwide and the economic costs of treatment and post-stroke care are extensive. The inability to identify stroke warning signs accurately is an important cause of delay in seeking medical attention, leading to potential ineligibility for acute intervention and which leads to secondary complications. Purpose To identify cardiac patients’ knowledge of stroke risk factors and warning signs. Patients and Methods The institutional based cross-sectional study design was employed. Participants were selected using systematic random sampling. Close-ended questionnaires were pre-tested and validated for consistency before data collection. Then after data collection, data were checked and entered into Epi-data 4.6. Finally, the cleaned data were exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Statistical analysis using binary logistic regression was done and Predictors with a p-value of <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results A total of 227 patients were included in the study, of which 140 (61.7%) of them identified physical inactivity, followed by hypertension126 (55.5%) as stroke risk factor while 15.4% of them did not know any risk factor of stroke. Amongst the study participants, 45.81% of them had adequate knowledge of stroke risk factors. Regarding stroke warning signs the most identified sign was sudden unilateral weakness 142 (62.6%) while 46 (20.26%) of them did not know at least one warning sign of a stroke. Based on multivariable logistic regression analysis, higher education level AOR 3.05 (95% CI 1.62–5.74) and Urban residence area AOR 2.07 (95% CI 1.05–4.1) were significantly associated with knowledge of stroke risk factors with p-value<0.05. Conclusion Study participants had inadequate knowledge of stroke risk factors and warning signs. Educational status and information about stroke are significantly associated with adequate knowledge of stroke risk factors, raising stroke awareness is the mainstay to reduce stroke burden.

Stroke Related Knowledge, Prevention Practices and Associated Factors Among Hypertensive Patients at University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia, 2021

“…Hypertensive patients who had secondary education, and above were more than four times more likely to have adequate stroke knowledge. This was concordant with the findings of a range of studies in which high educational level had been the most associated factor with adequate knowledge of stroke in hypertensive patients in Ethiopia ( 26 , 28 , 29 ), and Nigeria ( 14 , 32 ) Morocco ( 25 ), and Beirut ( 33 ). This may be due to the fact that individuals who have a higher educational level may have more interaction with society and have easy access to health-related information from various sources like the internet, news, books, magazines, and literature as compared with individuals who have no formal education, which is supported by the systematic reviews reporting that educational status has a significant impact on cardiovascular disease knowledge in SSA populations ( 24 , 34 ).…”

“…The data was collected using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire adapted from previous literature ( 14 , 26 , 27 , 29 ), which contained socio-demographic, clinical, and lifestyle characteristics, stroke knowledge items, and stroke prevention practice items.…”

Factors contributing to delay intensive care unit admission of critically ill patients from the adult emergency Department in Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital

“…The adult emergency department (ED) of TASH had provided services to approximately 18,000 patients per year. The adult ICU of TASH had 16 surgical ICU beds and 16 medical ICU beds with a total of 32 adult intensive care unit beds [ 25 ].…”

Knowledge and Response to Stroke Among Lebanese Adults: A Population-Based Survey

“…Worldwide, former studies have shown poor knowledge of stroke symptoms and risk factors in the general public (22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33). According to studies conducted in Jordan (34), in Uganda (35), and in Egypt (29), 47, 75, and 68.2% of the subjects couldn't identify any stroke risk factor, respectively.…”