"What is even more striking," says Vladimir Hachinski, M.D., editor-in-chief of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, "is that 35 percent of those surveyed said someone close to them has had a stroke, but only 1 percent worried about it happening to them."
Stroke is America’s No. 3 killer—behind diseases of the heart and cancer—and a leading disabler. Yet it is nowhere near the forefront of Americans’ minds, according to an American Stroke Association survey conducted Feb. 1-3, 2002. The telephone survey posed five questions to a sample of 1,000 adults.
"Overall, the results are disturbing—revealing that stroke is still not a health priority," says Hachinski. "Until this changes, we can expect to see a number of present patterns: lack of knowledge about stroke warning signs, lack of quick action when they occur, lack of commitment to reduce stroke risk factors, and, of course, lack of progress in reducing disability."
The American Stroke Association’s goal is to improve stroke care by providing resources to physicians, hospitals and healthcare professionals. The association is using a three-pronged approach: educating medical students about stroke; providing hospitals, neurologists and healthcare professionals with protocols to help improve stroke treatment; and promoting guidelines for proper care of stroke survivors.
"Any high-risk patient should be strongly directed to reduce modifiable risk factors such as smoking and uncontrolled hypertension. We should not wait until a person reaches retirement age to discuss stroke prevention," says Hachinski.
According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s Framingham Heart Study, 28 percent of stroke victims in a given year are younger than age 65.
Despite new approaches to stroke treatment such as thrombolytics (clot-busting drugs), preventing stroke is still the primary goal. "If people do not understand how devastating stroke can be, then obviously they will not worry about it. So we must communicate stroke’s real impact on the public. It should not be hard to put stroke in language patients can understand," he says.
May has been designated American Stroke Month in an effort to encourage Americans to become more aware of their risks and how to prevent stroke. Consumers can learn how to reduce their stroke risk by taking the stroke pledge on the American Stroke Association’s Web-site at StrokeAssociation.org
Strokes accounted for about 1 of every 14.3 deaths in the United States in 1999. Direct and indirect costs of stroke in the United States this year will approach $50 billion. The American Stroke Association figures that someone has a stroke every 53 seconds and someone dies of one every 3.1 minutes in the United States.
Here are the major findings of the survey:
- Only 1 percent of Americans worry most about stroke. When asked which one disease or health condition they worry about most, 33 percent said cancer and 13 percent named heart disease or heart attack. Stroke tied for last with four other diseases or conditions (Alzheimer’s, arthritis, osteoporosis and stress). Respondents also named diabetes (4 percent), AIDS (3 percent) and high blood pressure (3 percent). Interestingly, 28 percent of those sampled said they are not worried about any disease or health condition. Fear of stroke was even very low (2 percent) among persons who have stroke experience (they or someone close to them have had a stroke).
- A significant number of Americans have experience with stroke. That 35 percent of those sampled said they had a stroke or that someone close to them had one is no surprise. There are about 4.6 million stroke survivors in the United States.
- Paralysis (31 percent) and death (20 percent) were rated the most fearful aspects of stroke by survey participants. When asked what they feared most about stroke, 15 percent either didn’t know or didn’t answer the question.
- A significant number of Americans are familiar with some of the things they can do to prevent stroke—though a smaller percentage don’t know the most important preventable action is to quit smoking. Asked about the most important thing they can do to prevent a stroke, 23 percent mentioned controlling high blood pressure; 18 percent said exercising regularly; and 17 percent named eating healthy. Not smoking was mentioned by 15 percent.
NR02 –1070 (Stroke/Hachinski)
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