Dados do Trabalho

Título

Recognizing and reacting to a hypothetical stroke scenario in Brazil's Northeast

Resumo

Introduction: Recognizing the alarming signs of stroke is the first step to starting a proper treatment reaction chain.
Objectives: We aimed to assess the frequency of awareness of the laypeople on recognition and reaction to stroke.
Methods: Cross-sectional survey-based study, which data was collected in 2020, in twelve cities of Brazil’s Northeast. The participants were exposed to a stroke case study and then responded to an open-ended semi-structured questionnaire to evaluate their stroke knowledge.
Results: A total of 1,475 subjects were enrolled in this study (52.6% women, 36.2±15.3 years old). 1,220/1,475 (82.7%) recognized the situation as a stroke; 1,148/1,475 (77.8%) would react to it by taking the patient to the emergency room. Of those who recognized the stroke, 19.9% (243/1,220) did not take an appropriate reaction to it, meaning a recognition-reaction gap.
Conclusions: The frequency of stroke recognition and reaction to it were acceptable, but could be improved. The recognition-reaction gap needs to be addressed by specific campaigns focusing on time-sensitivity aspects for successful stroke outcomes.