Survey on knowledge of stroke warning signs and awareness of making emergency calling among hospitalized patients with high risk for stoke

Abstract:

Objective：To survey the knowledge of stroke warning signs and the awareness of emergency calling among hospitalized pa－tients with high risk for stroke. Methods：From January to August 2012，using self-designed questionnaire，the trained neurologists con－ducted the face to face investigation among 500 hospitalized patients with high risk for stroke in the department of neurology in the Second Affiliated Hospital Chongqing Medical University. The patients were asked to report the common stroke warning signs and reaction in response to sudden stroke symptoms. The related factors were analyzed. Results：A total of 467 patients completed the questionnaire. 72.2% patients can correctly report ≥1 stroke warning sign，and only 10.7% patients can correctly report ≥3 stroke warning signs. The ratio of calling ‘120’ for a variety of stroke warning signs was 46.3%-57.8% and only 28.7% patients reported that they would call ‘120’ for all 5 stroke warning signs. The ra－tio of calling ‘120’ for all 5 stroke warning signs was associated with household income（ χ2=13.803，P=0.003），patients’ risk factors of stroke（ χ2=22.200，P=0.000），and knowledge of stroke warning signs（ χ2=9.060，P=0.028）. But even among those with knowledge of ≥3 stroke warning signs，only 44.0%（95%CI=23.3%-64.7%） would call ‘120’ for all 5 stroke warning signs. Conclusions：Patients with high risk for stroke in the department of neurology have low knowledge level of stroke warning signs and poor awareness of call－ing ‘120’ for stroke.