Public knowledge of warning signs and risk factors of cerebro-vascular stroke in Ismailia Governorate, Egypt

Abstract

Background: Knowledge and awareness of cerebro-vascular stroke (CVS) warning symptoms and risk factors is deficient in the general population in the developing countries. Objective: To evaluate the knowledge and attitude about warning symptoms and risk factors of cerebro-vascular stroke among a sample of people living in Ismailia Governorate, Egypt. Methods: This study was conducted at two selected areas of Ismailia Governorate, an urban area and a rural area. Seven hundred and twenty participants were included in the study (360 form the urban area and 360 from the rural area). Face-to-face questionnaire-based interviews were administered to the participants. The survey tool is a 9item questionnaire translated in Arabic, designed to evaluate the knowledge and attitude about warning symptoms and risk factors of cerebro-vascular stroke. Results: According to the participants, the main source of knowledge about CVS was from seeing someone with stroke, the main risk factor of CVS was hypertension, the most frequent warning symptom of CVS was paralysis of one side, and the most frequent action to be taken with the onset of CVS was direct transfer to the hospital. Conclusion: Hypertension was the mostly known risk factor. Only few participants were aware of diabetes mellitus as a risk factor for cerebro-vascular stroke. This information will be useful for planning CVS prevention campaigns.

Public Knowledge of Risk Factors and Warning Signs for Cardiovascular Disease Among Young and Middle-Aged Adults in Rural Tanzania

“…We also observed sex differences in the sources of information with radio being the main source of information among men while relatives/neighbors were the main source among women. Other studies have also reported radio [22][23][24], relatives/neighbors [13,36,37] and health care providers [35,40,41] as sources of information for CVDs. Our ndings have indicated underutilization of health care providers for provision of CVDrelated health education.…”

“…general characteristics of the study population. The median age [interquartile range (IQR)] of the participants was 39[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] years. Majority of the participants were women (74.1%), were married (71.5%), had primary education (80.4%) and were predominantly farmers (92.5%).…”

Public knowledge of risk factors and warning signs for cardiovascular disease among young and middle-aged adults in rural Tanzania

“…General characteristics of the study population are described in table 1. The median age [interquartile range (IQR)] of the participants was 39 [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] years. Majority of the participants were women (74.1%), were married (71.5%), had primary education (80.4%) and were predominantly farmers (92.5%).…”

“…We also observed sex differences in the sources of information with radio being the main source of information among men while relatives/neighbors were the main source among women. Other studies have also reported radio [22][23][24], relatives/neighbors [13,38,39] and health care providers [35,40,41] as sources of information for CVDs. Our ndings have indicated underutilization of health care providers for provision of CVD-related health education.…”

Public knowledge of risk factors and warning signs for cardiovascular disease among young and middle-aged adults in rural Tanzania

“…We also observed sex differences in the sources of information with radio being the main source of information among men while relatives/neighbors were the main source among women. Other studies have also reported radio [22][23][24], relatives/neighbors [13,38,39] and health care providers [35,40,41] as sources of information for CVDs. Our ndings have indicated underutilization of health care providers for provision of CVDrelated health education.…”