Stroke awareness in the Saudi community living in Riyadh: prompt public health measures must be implemented.

BACKGROUND

Stroke is very prevalent in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, approaching 43.8 per 100,000 people. Stroke outcome is known to be affected by the level of stroke awareness in the community. We conducted this study to assess the level of stroke awareness in the Saudi population.

METHODS

A validated survey of 11 questions was used to assess the level of stroke awareness among the Saudi population. The survey was distributed in a 1-month period to every adult Saudi citizen visiting 10 shopping centers, 10 large supermarkets, 4 hospitals, and 2 universities.

RESULTS

Two thousand eight hundred sixty-two people completed the questionnaire (a 78% response rate). One thousand eight hundred forty-four people (64%) were able to define stroke correctly. One thousand four hundred twenty-eight people (49.9%) named mass media as the source of their knowledge. One thousand three hundred one (45.9%) believe stroke and brain death share the same pathologic mechanism and outcome, particularly those <40 years of age (P < .05). Six hundred twenty-two (21.7%) of the respondents correctly chose ≥5 risk factors and made ≤1 error. Five hundred twenty-seven (18.4%) of the participants in this study were able to correctly identify ≥3 symptoms of the list and make ≤1 error.

CONCLUSIONS

There is an alarming deficit in the level of stroke awareness in the Saudi population. Urgent public health measures to correct this deficiency are promptly needed.