Is Knowledge of Type 2 Diabetic Patients about Stroke Acceptable- a Cross Sectional Study

Objective: The relative stroke risk is increased in patients with diabetes. Awareness and knowledge of the risk factors and symptoms of stroke are essential for prevention and immediate effective treatment of stroke. The aim of the study was to determine baseline knowledge about the warning symptoms and risk factors of stroke in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Materials and Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in Yazd-Iran 2015-2016. The pilot section included 10 T2DM patients. The main data was collected from 281 patients. The self-conducted checklist about knowledge of stroke risk factors, warning signs as defined by national institute of neurological disorder and stroke was prepared in three following parts. 1) Socio-demographic information. 2) Open-ended question about stroke risk factors, warning sign & symptoms and first action information. 3) Multiple choice questions related to the stroke risk factors, warning sign & symptoms and first action information. Results: 408 T2DM patients were invited and 281 patients fulfilled in study. Most of them (70.4%) were women. The mean age of patients was 54.09±12.54 years. The most common general risk factors of stroke listed were “high blood pressure (92.9%), unhealthy diet” (86.8%), and “stress” (82.2%).The most common sources of stroke information were friends and family members (73.7%). Conclusion: Education program to increase T2DM knowledge of stroke may contribute to reducing the risk of stroke and increasing the speed of hospital presentation after the onset of stroke.