Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 34212, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 34212, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2020 Oct;29(10):105088. doi: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2020.105088. Epub 2020 Jul 9.
Stroke is a medical emergency that demands early recognition for time sensitive acute management. Knowledge about stroke in public has not been found satisfactory in most of the studies worldwide. Studies describing the awareness of public about recognition of stroke and its treatment from Saudi Arabia (SA) are deficient. This study aimed to assess the knowledge of general population living in the Eastern Province of SA about stroke in relation to recognition of warning signs, risk factors and available acute treatment.
A prospective, cross sectional study was conducted using a structured questionnaire distributed through an electronic web site over a period of six months. The data was analyzed with SPSS version 22.0.
Among a total of 1,213 respondents, 62.4% were women. Three fourth identified the affected organ correctly. Psychological stress was the most commonly identified risk factor (73.5%) followed by hypertension (63.8%). More than half of the respondents (58.5%) were not aware of diabetes mellitus as a risk factor for stroke. Speech difficulty was the most commonly identified stroke warning sign (64.4%) followed by focal weakness (62.4%). More than half (59.9%) did not recognize facial asymmetry as stroke warning sign. Nearly three fourth of the participants were unaware of t-PA (73.7%) and nearest available health care center for acute stroke management (74.9%).
Our survey found the stroke literacy in the population of the Eastern Province of SA as non- satisfactory and highlights the importance of taking immediate measure such as mass media campaign and hospital based activities to improve it.
脑卒中是一种需要早期识别的医疗急症，以便进行及时的急性处理。但在全球大多数研究中，公众对脑卒中的认识并不理想。描述沙特阿拉伯公众对脑卒中识别及其治疗认识的研究较少。本研究旨在评估沙特东部省份的一般人群对脑卒中的认识，包括对警告症状、危险因素和现有急性治疗的认识。
采用前瞻性、横断面研究设计，使用结构化问卷通过电子网站在六个月内进行调查。使用 SPSS 版本 22.0 进行数据分析。
在总共 1213 名受访者中，62.4%为女性。三分之四的人正确识别了受影响的器官。心理压力是最常见的危险因素（73.5%），其次是高血压（63.8%）。超过一半的受访者（58.5%）不知道糖尿病是脑卒中的危险因素。言语困难是最常见的脑卒中警告症状（64.4%），其次是局灶性无力（62.4%）。超过一半（59.9%）的人不认为面部不对称是脑卒中的警告症状。近四分之三的参与者不知道 t-PA（73.7%）和最近的急性脑卒中管理的医疗机构（74.9%）。
我们的调查发现，沙特东部省份的脑卒中知识水平不理想，强调了采取立即措施的重要性，如开展大众媒体宣传和医院活动，以提高公众对脑卒中的认识。
