Socioeconomic impact of stroke in patients and family members

Abstract

Introduction: Stroke is a worldwide public health problem and one of the major causes of acquired disability worldwide. Objective: To study the socioeconomic weight of stroke in patients and family members, followed by an external consultation of Neurology at Hospital Américo Boavida (HAB) and at the Center for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of Luanda (CMFRL) from June to August 2013. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive observational study of 56 patients after stroke, assisted in the HAB and CMFRL/2013, was conducted. The sample was non-probabilistic, convenience-type. The data were collected using a form as well as the Barthel Index (IB) to assess the degree of functional dependence. Results: The mean age was 53 years, since the modal age group was 50-59 years, the male gender was the most frequent (53.6%), the majority of patients were married (69.6%), unemployed (25%), with primary education done (37.5%); 80.4% go to public transport consultation, the majority reported being taken care of by the spouse (67.9%), so 100% of the unemployed was due to their illness; 50% reported having households consisting of 6-8 people; the most frequent monthly income was 2-5 minimum wages (47%), and more was spent on complementary diagnostic tests with an average of 9,844.6 4 Kz/month and a total expenditure on average of 28510.71 Kz/month and that 25% of the sample spent more than 50% of the monthly income for the disease; 44.6% was moderately dependent. Finally, it was found that most of those who had some degree of dependence became unemployed and spent more than 50% of the monthly household income for the disease. Conclusion: Stroke affects, often the most deprived people and, at the same time, contributes even more to socioeconomic deprivation.