Professional paper

Differences in the Knowledge of Stroke Symptoms between Urban and Rural Population

Anka Aleksić-Shihabi

Abstract

High mortality rates of stroke are due to insufficient knowledge of stroke among the population, which is the consequence of lifestyle and inadequate control of stroke risk factors. The knowledge of stroke symptoms was assessed in urban and rural population from the Šibenik-Knin County. A total of 448 subjects were studied, with equal numbers of urban and rural participants. In addition, the treatment of stroke and educational level of the subjects were recorded. The study was conducted as a survey comprising interviews and questionnaires with multiple right and wrong answers. The results showed that urban subjects had better knowledge of stroke symptoms than rural subjects, and both groups recognized speech disturbances as the most common stroke symptom (63.64% of urban and 50.44% of rural subjects; p=0.005), followed by weakness affecting one side of the body (61.82% of urban and 46.93% of rural subjects; p=0.002), and dysesthesias (pins and needles) affecting one side of the body (60.0% of urban and 44.74% of rural subjects; p=0.001). Both groups of subjects thought that stroke could be treated successfully. This could be due to differences in educational level because the group of rural population included more subjects with less than primary school or primary school education, and less subjects with high school and university education as compared with urban population, resulting in different lifestyle and better control of stroke risk factors in the latter.

Keywords

Cardiovascular accident - prevention; Health, education; Cardiovascular accident - Diagnosis; Cardiovascular accident - etiology; Knowledge attitudes practice; Health behavior; Demography; Croatia

Hrčak ID:

18260

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/18260

Publication date:

3.9.2007.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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