Year: 2007
Type: letter
Abstract: We read with great interest the article by Mosley et al1 on\n\nfactors related to calling an ambulance for stroke patients. The\n\nauthors reported that “stroke” was referred as the problem\n\n(unprompted) by 50% of callers, whereas fewer than half of the\n\ncalls were made within 1 hour from symptom onset. We agree\n\nwith the authors on the necessity of interventions to more strongly\n\nlink stroke recognition to immediate action to increase the\n\nnumber of stroke patients eligible for acute treatment.\n\nWith the aim of evaluating the impact of a community intervention\n\non stroke perception among people, we have administered a\n\nstructured questionnaire to all participants in 2 distinct stroke\n\ninitiatives, in which people were given a free screening for\n\ncerebrovascular risk assessment.\n\nThese initiatives, which included clinical and instrumental\n\n(carotid and vertebral ultrasound scanning) examinations, took\n\nplace in Pisa in May and September 2006, and were potentially\n\naddressed to all inhabitants of the city (85 000 people). Before\n\nthe screening, all participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire\n\ncomposed of multi-option questions about stroke definition,\n\nincidence, symptoms, consequences, and behavior in case of\n\nstroke. In the months between the 2 initiatives, a widespread\n\nstroke information campaign (specific posters, leaflets an booklets\n\ndispensed in drugstores and in offices of General Practitioners,\n\nin addition to those given at the end of the screening during\n\nthe first stoke initiative in May 2006; articles published in local\n\nnewspapers; announcements and Neurologist interviews shown\n\nby local television) was implemented. The characteristics of the participants to these 2 initiatives\n\n(before and after stroke information campaign) and the answers\n\ngiven to the questionnaires are shown in the Table. Despite the\n\nolder age and a comparable educational level, the participants in\n\nthe second stroke initiative showed an overall better knowledge\n\nabout stroke than the participants to the previous one.\n\nOur data show that information campaigns addressed to the\n\ncommunity represent a powerful tool to enhance people knowledge\n\nabout stroke. In particular, in accordance with a previous\n\nstudy,2 we think that providing continuous, full, and at the same\n\ntime concise information about stroke (explaining all the items of\n\nour questionnaire, for instance) is an educationally correct\n\nmethod to link stroke recognition to rapid call for ambulance and\n\nacute treatment implementation.
Source: Stroke
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2047807603