Awareness of risk factors and warning signs of stroke among caregivers of patient with and not with stroke: Results from questionnaire

Abstract

Objective: To assess the awareness/knowledge of stroke risk factors and warning signs among caregivers of patients with or without stroke.

Methods: The cross-sectional, descriptive and comparative study was conducted in the neurology clinic and polyclinic of a university hospital in Izmir, Turkey, from March to July 2014, and comprised primary caregivers of patients with stroke in group 1 and those of patients with no stroke in group 2. The subjects were screened and data was collected using the Participant Information Form and the Questionnaire Form About Stroke. Warning signs and symptoms of stroke were compared between the two sets of caregivers. SPSS 17was used for data analysis. Results: Of the 203 respondents, 105(52%) were in group 1 and 98(48%) in group 2. Group 1 had better awareness than group 2 (p<0.05). In group 1, weakness was the most commonly recognised warning sign 101(96.2%), whereas dyspnoea 41(39%), was the least commonly identified. There was no relationship of stroke knowledge with educational level and age (p>0.05 each). Conclusions: Caregivers had a moderate knowledge of some of the warning signs and risk factors about stroke.