Awareness of Neurological Diseases: Comparisons of Secondary and Tertiary Neurological Oupatient Centers in Ankara Sample Nörolojik Hastaliklarda Farkindalik: Ankara İli Örneğinde 2. ve 3. Basamak Nöroloji Polikliniklerinin Karşilaştirilmasi

Objective: Neurological diseases and the associated disabilities are getting increasingly more prevalent in all over the world and in our country. Awareness of neurological diseases is thought to be less than expected. Ma te ri als and Met hods: The aim of this study is to investigate the awareness of neurological diseases in secondary and tertiary neurological outpatient service visitors and to assess its correlations between the patient demographics. Re sults: A total of 540 patients were included in the study. Alzheimer disease was found to be best known neurological disease while multiple sclerosis was the least known. The awareness of the diseases correlated with the level of education. Younger patients seemed to be more aware of neurological diseases than the older ones. Despite the current widespread usage of internet/media, we found that patients come to neurological outpatient services mostly upon the advice from their family practitioners. We comment that this result is a positive finding in terms of the utility of health care system and patient-physician relationship. Conclusion: There is need for increasing the awareness of the neurological diseases for both early diagnosis of neurological diseases and the reduction of associated disability. (Turkish Journal of Neurology 2014; 20:112-120)