Stroke Awareness Among Community Residents in Chicago (P7.135)

OBJECTIVE: Assessment of stroke-related awareness among general public in Chicago BACKGROUND: Poor awareness of stroke risk factors and late recognition of stroke symptoms can result in delayed treatment. DESIGN/METHODS: This was a cross sectional survey involving 143 respondents. Data on awareness of stroke risk factors, symptoms, and use of 9-1-1 were collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire over 2 months. We compared proportions of responses across age, gender, and ethnicity using appropriate tests. RESULTS: Participants were aged 15 to 75 years, 60% female, and 41% white, 24% African-American, and 21% Hispanic. Respondents recognized hypertension (93%), family history (88%), and diabetes/obesity (85.3%) as stroke risk factors, while majority reported weakness (87.4%) and slurred speech (86.7%) as symptoms of stroke. However, 70% also identified chest pain and 63% shortness of breath as stroke symptoms and identified caffeine use (54%) as a risk factor. Younger patients (15-18 years) were more likely to believe chest pain and shortness of breath (p=0.002) are stroke symptoms and less likely to consider slurred speech (p=0.005), race-ethnicity (p=0.002), and gender (p<0.001) as stroke risk factors despite being slightly more likely to know a person with stroke (p=0.067). Whites were more likely to consider weakness (p=0.015) and slurred speech (p=0.008) as warning signs and race-ethnicity (p=0.005) and gender (p=0.008) risk factors compared with non-whites. Although 93.4% of the participants responded that they would call 9-1-1 in the event of witnessing stroke, 23.8% reported concerns about ambulance charges, 11.2% of being embarrassed, and 8.4% of being taken to “wrong” hospital. CONCLUSIONS: D espite significant efforts made to increase public awareness about stroke, moderate deficits still exist. Future educational programs should consider targeted outreach to younger populations who may live with stroke survivors and minority populations at higher risk for stroke. In addition, financial barriers to calling EMS should be tackled at public policy level. Disclosure: Dr. Mathew has nothing to disclose. Dr. O’Neill has nothing to disclose. Dr. Beckstrom has nothing to disclose. Dr. Giles has nothing to disclose. Dr. Aggarwal has nothing to disclose. Dr. Prabhakaran has received personal compensation for activities with American Heart Association.