Awareness of stroke risk factors, signs and treatment in a Pakistani population

Objective: To assess the level of awareness in the general public on risk factors, symptomatology and immediate treatment of stroke. Method: A cross sectional study was conducted in a sample of subjects visiting a tertiary care university hospital by means of a self-designed questionnaire. The study period extended between May and June, 2007. Results: A total of 398 individuals were surveyed. Hypertension (69.1 %) and stress (55.8%) were identified as two major risk factors for stroke. Among them 50.8% identified "Brain" as the principal organ involved in stroke out of which 78.2% of the response came from people whose level of education was intermediate-and-above. Around 13% of the study respondents did not know of any risk factor for stroke, while 11.6% of the study respondents didn't know about the alarming signs of stroke. The most frequent response (26.16%) to immediate management of stroke was to take the individual to Emergency Department/hospital. In all 56% reported that basic information about stroke was given to them by friend/relative. Conclusions: The overall awareness of the study population regarding stroke was shown to be inadequate by this study. Knowledge was significantly greater in participants of younger age and a higher level of education.