Ansan Citizen's Knowledge of Stroke

Park, Beom Sick; Lee, Jong Mun; Koh, Seong Beom; Kim, Byung Jo; Park, Min Kyu; Park, Kun Woo; Sin, Chul; Lee, Dae Hie

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The awareness and knowledge of stroke among general population has been poorly estimated in our country.
METHODS
Well-trained personnel asked to randomly selected 985 residents in Ansan City with questionnaire concerning stroke. The results of questionnaire were analyzed in terms of demographic factors.
RESULTS
Only 55.4% of the subjects answered that stroke is cerebrovascular disease. As risk factors of stroke, hypertension (70.4%) and mental stress (59.7%) were considered to be important. But the risk of cigarette smoking(18.7%), diabetes mellitus(14.5%), and heart disease(14.5%) were underappreciated. This awareness pattern did not show no statistical significance between those with and without risk factors(p>0.05). The more than half of subjects(65.2%) chose western medicine and 26.8% of subjects chose oriental medicine for the treatment of stroke. Forty four percent of the subjects perceived motor paralysis as a primary symptom of stroke. Broadcasting was the most important source of information about stroke.
CONCLUSIONS
The misinformation about stroke is common among general population in Ansan City. To provide proper management for stroke by neurologists, public health education should be focused especially on those who have risk factors and are the elderly and less educated. Because primary physician play a crucial role in spreading information about stroke, special education program for them is needed.