Awareness, Recognition, and Response to Stroke among the General Public-An Observational Study

Objective  To evaluate awareness and response to stroke among the general public. Materials and Methods  In this prospective, observational study, self-reported stroke awareness questionnaire was administered in 2000 consecutive participants who visited outpatient clinic of a tertiary care hospital. For data analysis, comparison included for awareness of stroke and response in case of stroke. Results  The average age of the study participants was 39.64 ± 15.55 (17-85), with 651(32.6%) women. Among the respondents, 786(39.3%) participants mentioned stroke as blood clot in the brain; 268(13.4%) stated it as brain hemorrhage. Awareness of stroke was higher in people in cities (71.0 vs. 8.5%; p  < 0.001) and graduates (75.3 vs. 60.9%; p  < 0.001) or knew a family member or friend who had stroke (42.7 vs. 30.4%; p  < 0.001). Most commonly recognized risk factors included stress (1,152; 57.6%) and hypertension (1,148; 57.4%). Most identified warning sign was weakness of one side of body (807; 40.4%) and speech impairment (658; 32.9%). Participants who were aware of stroke knew a greater number of risk factors (3.75 ± 2.88 vs. 2.45 ± 2.66; p  < 0.001) and warning signs (2.85 ± 2.25 vs. 1.49 ± 1.41; p <0.001). Among 1,138 participants who were aware of stroke, 166 (14.6%) participants knew one correct response in case of a stroke, either call a doctor (49.3 vs. 35.0%; p <0.001) or call an ambulance (41.1 vs. 34.9%; p  = 0.055). Participants who knew one correct response to stroke had at least a family member/friend who had stroke (44.1 vs. 34.3%; p  < 0.022). Conclusion  We report that among 56.9% of the participants who were aware of stroke most could not name more than four risk factors or three warning signs of stroke. Only 14.6% of those aware of stroke knew appropriate response to stroke.