Awareness about stroke among high and low risk individuals in Khartoum, Sudan: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: stroke causes 10.17% of all deaths in Sudan. Levels of stroke awareness amongst patients in Sudan are unknown. The aim of this study is to assess the level of awareness of stroke risk factors, symptoms and immediate management amongst high and low risk patients. Methods: using descriptive cross-sectional study, participants of high and low risk groups were recruited from the referral clinics of three tertiary hospitals in Khartoum. Data was collected through interviews using structured questionnaire. Knowledge score was devised to assess the awareness about stroke symptoms, risk factors, and management. Results: of the 286 participants, 150 were females. The mean age was 44.66 years. About 79.4% reported that stroke is preventable. Hypertension was the most identified risk factor (71.6%) while genetics (0.2%) and alcohol (0.2%) were the least identified risk factors. Twenty-seven percent (27.6%) did not know any stroke risk factors, while 32.9% did not know any warning symptoms. Paralysis of one side of the body was the most identified warning symptom (30.7%). The mean awareness score was 21.9 +/- 3.4 among the high risk group vs. 22.1 +/- 3.6 among the low risk group with no statistically significant difference between the two groups (p = .717). The mean awareness score was statistically associated with the level of education (p < 0.001). Conclusion: the awareness level was relatively low and not statistically different between high and low risk groups. We recommend the development of an effective educational program for the whole community.