Knowledge of Stroke Risk Factors, Warning Symptoms, and Treatment Among an Australian Urban Population

Abstract

The level of knowledge in the community of established stroke risk factors, warning signs, and treatment as indicated by this survey suggests that a community-based education program to increase public knowledge of stroke may contribute to reducing the risk of stroke and to increasing the speed of hospital presentation after the onset of stroke.

Knowledge of heart disease and stroke among cardiology inpatients and outpatients in a Canadian inner-city urban hospital

“…Only 31% of respondents had good stroke symptom knowledge ( Figure 3B). Similarly, close to 30% of respondents exhibited good knowledge in other community-based, open-ended telephone surveys (7)(8)(9). Postsecondary education, a history of stroke and a household income of $50,000 or more were significant predictors of good knowledge of stroke symptoms.…”

“…This compares favourably with the number of people able to identify two or more risk factors (25% to 62%) in open-ended telephone surveys of the general population's knowledge of heart disease and stroke (7)(8)(9)). An annual household income of $50,000 or more and a personal history of stroke were predictors of good risk factor knowledge.…”

“…-based, open-ended telephone survey studies in the United States and Australia (5)(6)(7)(8)(9) have reported that awareness of all heart attack and stroke symptoms is low among the general public. Individuals categorized as being at higher risk for coronary artery disease have also been shown to exhibit poor knowledge of its risk factors (10,11).…”

Awareness of stroke risk factors and warning signs in southern Brazil

“…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%).…”

Determination of the level of knowledge of stroke among patients aged 60 years and older

“…İnme semptomları bilgi düzeyinin genç yaş, bayan cinsiyet, yüksek eğitim düzeyi, hipertansiyon öyküsü, geçirilmiş inme, sigara içimi ve yüksek gelir düzeyi ile arttığını gösteren çalışmalar bulunmaktadır (19,20). Ça-lışmamızda 60 yaş ve üzeri bireylerin inme risk faktörleri ve inme semptomları bilgi puanları ile katılımcıların yaş, cinsiyet, eğitim düzeyleri, medeni durumları ve yerleşim yerleri özellikleri arasında anlamlı bir ilişki saptanmamış-tır.…”