[Stroke: a stranger among the people]

Abstract

Introduction: Lack of awareness of warning signs of stroke is a factor that contribute to late patient arrival to the emergency department.

Objective: The goal of this pilot study was to determine the baseline knowledge of stroke among the population (terminology, signs-symptoms, risk factors and attitude) prior to educational campaigns.

Patients and methods: A population-based interview using closed-ended questions was conducted by neurologists among 100 users of the Vall d'Hebron's Primary Health Center, randomly sampled.

Results: In our population a 9% unknowns totally the disease, of the remainder, 42% has a good knowledge of signs-symptoms and 46% of risk factors. Only 22% of the sample has good global knowledge of the disease. If suffering a stroke this population should seek medical attention through 911 (46.2%) or come directly to the emergency department (50.5%). If symptoms were gone away, transient ischemic attack (TIA), appears a trend to contact primary physicians (59.3%). Respondents aged > 65 years were less likely to recognize symptoms (p = 0.001) and to consider stroke as an emergency. Respondents with an affected relative (50.5%) tend to locate more exactly the disease at the brain (p = 0.05) and to arrive earlier to the emergency department (p = 0.045), than those with non-affected relatives.

Conclusions: Less than a quarter of our population have a good knowledge of the disease. Stroke is considered an emergency unlike TIA. The information about stroke is theoretically associated with early presentation to the emergency department. These results permit a redesign of the questionnaire to conduct a second phase of the study and generalize them for the Spanish population.