title: Stroke awareness in the Saudi community living in Riyadh: prompt public health measures must be implemented.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Stroke is very prevalent in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, approaching 43.8 per 100,000 people. Stroke outcome is known to be affected by the level of stroke awareness in the community. We conducted this study to assess the level of stroke awareness in the Saudi population.
  
  
  METHODS
  A validated survey of 11 questions was used to assess the level of stroke awareness among the Saudi population. The survey was distributed in a 1-month period to every adult Saudi citizen visiting 10 shopping centers, 10 large supermarkets, 4 hospitals, and 2 universities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two thousand eight hundred sixty-two people completed the questionnaire (a 78% response rate). One thousand eight hundred forty-four people (64%) were able to define stroke correctly. One thousand four hundred twenty-eight people (49.9%) named mass media as the source of their knowledge. One thousand three hundred one (45.9%) believe stroke and brain death share the same pathologic mechanism and outcome, particularly those <40 years of age (P < .05). Six hundred twenty-two (21.7%) of the respondents correctly chose ≥5 risk factors and made ≤1 error. Five hundred twenty-seven (18.4%) of the participants in this study were able to correctly identify ≥3 symptoms of the list and make ≤1 error.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is an alarming deficit in the level of stroke awareness in the Saudi population. Urgent public health measures to correct this deficiency are promptly needed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alaqeel
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: AlBatool
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: AlAmmari
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Nourah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: AlSyefi
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Fawaz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Al-Hussain
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: ymohammad@ksu.edu.sa.
authors.forename: Yousef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mohammad
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D018912:Arabs / Q000523:psychology*; D001364:Awareness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice / Q000208:ethnology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D015995:Prevalence; D011634:Public Health; D012307:Risk Factors; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014504:Urban Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: cross-sectional; saudi arabia; stroke awareness