Awareness of heart attack and stroke symptoms among Hispanic male adults living in the United States

Abstract

There is evidence that Hispanic men are a high risk group for treatment delay for both heart attack and stroke. More targeted research is needed to elucidate this specific population's knowledge of warning signs for these acute events. This study sought to describe within-group disparities in Hispanic men's knowledge of heart attack and stroke symptomology. Multivariate techniques were used to analyze a multi-year Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Heart and Stroke module database. The data were cross-sectional and focused on health risk factors and behaviors. The research participants were U.S. male Hispanic adults aged 18-99. The main outcome measure for the study was heart attack and stroke symptom knowledge score. Multivariate logistic regression analysis yielded that Hispanic men aged >or=18 years who earned low scores on the composite heart attack and stroke knowledge questions (range 0-8 points) were more likely to: have less than a high school education, have deferred medical care because of cost, not have an identified health care provider, and be uninsured. There were significant within-group differences. Targeting educational efforts toward older (>or=55 years) Hispanic men with less than high school education, those who do not have an identified health care provider or health insurance, and who defer health care because of cost could be ways to improve the outcome of acute vascular events among the U.S. Hispanic adult male population.