Awareness of warning signs among suburban Nigerians at high risk for stroke is poor: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND Although stroke is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Nigeria, there is no information on awareness of its warning signs. This study was designed to assess awareness of stroke warning signs in Nigerians at increased risk. METHODS A hospital-based cross-sectional study conducted at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, in southern Nigeria. Patients with a diagnosis of hypertension, diabetes or both were interviewed for the warning signs of stroke in the outpatient clinic by trained interviewers. The main outcome measure was ability to identify at least one stroke warning sign. RESULTS There were 225 respondents with a mean age of 58.0 +/- 11.7 years. Only 39.6% could identify at least one stroke warning sign while the commonest sign identified was sudden unilateral limb weakness (24.4%). On multivariate logistic regression analysis, male sex (beta = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.14-0.39, p < 0.001) and 11 or more years of education (beta = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.03-0.29, p = 0.02) emerged the independent predictors of ability to identify at least one warning sign. CONCLUSION Awareness of stroke warning signs is poor among Nigerians at increased risk for the disease. Efforts should be made to improve on the level of awareness through aggressive health education.