Background
Risk factor management is the key to stroke prevention. Although several studies have
assessed the awareness of different risk factors in the general public, there are
limited data available on how well acute stroke patients know their own risk factors.
The aim of this study was to assess stroke patients' informedness of their own stroke
risk factors.
Methods
All consecutive eligible acute stroke and transient ischemic attack patients hospitalized
at the Tartu University Hospital, Department of Neurology, during 9 months in 2010
were interviewed about different stroke risk factors within 72 hours from hospitalization.
The respective information was also retrieved from medical records.
Results
Of the 341 patients admitted during the study period, 195 were eligible for the interview.
Diabetes was the best known risk factor (89%) followed by hypertension (80%), atrial
fibrillation (78%), previous stroke (77%), and heart failure and/or ischemic heart
disease (66%).
Conclusions
We found that acute stroke patients are best informed of their diabetes and worst
informed of their ischemic heart disease and/or heart failure. There is, however,
room for amelioration in the awareness of all of the studied risk factors. More attention
should be addressed to explaining the risks and treatment options to patients at risk
of stroke and the general population.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 30, 2015
Accepted:
October 31,
2015
Received in revised form:
September 23,
2015
Received:
February 9,
2015
Footnotes
The study was supported by the Estonian Research Council IUT2–4 grant.
Identification
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2015.10.029
Copyright
© 2016 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
