International Journal of General Medicine (Aug 2021)

Stroke Risk Factor Awareness Among Populations in Saudi Arabia

  • Bakraa R,
  • Aldhaheri R,
  • Barashid M,
  • Benafeef S,
  • Alzahrani M,
  • Bajaba R,
  • Alshehri S,
  • Alshibani M

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 14
pp. 4177 – 4182

Abstract

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Reem Bakraa,1 Ruba Aldhaheri,1 Mada Barashid,1 Sarah Benafeef,1 Maram Alzahrani,1 Rasha Bajaba,2 Samah Alshehri,3 Mohannad Alshibani3 1College of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 2Laboratory and Blood Bank Department, King Fahd General Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Mohannad AlshibaniDepartment of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, PO Box 22252, Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaTel +966 126400000 ext. 21146Fax +966 126951696Email [email protected]: Stroke is considered the second leading cause of death and the third leading cause of disability in the world. The incidence of stroke in Saudi Arabia is 43.8 per 100,000, due to the lack of knowledge and awareness of the population. This study intends to determine the level of stroke risk factor awareness among the Saudi population.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Saudi Arabia on 898 participants older than 18 years old. The validated online survey was randomly distributed and consisted of 20 questions in both English and Arabic languages to evaluate the level of awareness of stroke risk factors among the population.Results: A total of 898 participants completed the survey. The results showed that the median risk factor score was 5 (IQ 3– 8) out of 14. A total of 2.2% could recognize all 14 risk factors. Personal history of hypertension was chosen as a risk factor by the majority of the participants (81.7%) followed by personal history of stroke (74.1%) and personal history of dyslipidemia (57.2%).Conclusion: This study showed that there is an insufficient level of stroke risk factor awareness in Saudi Arabia. More than half of the participants identified the term (stroke), while only 2.2% could recognize all 14 risk factors. Hence, public education is needed to identify people with stroke risk factors.Keywords: stroke, awareness, risk factors, public education, Saudi Arabia

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