Results
Sample Characteristics (Table 1)
Women ranged in age from 50 to 73, with a mean age of 63.0 years (SD7.2). The majority of
the sample was white (91.5%). 33.1% of the population earned more than $75,000 annually
and 28.6% of the population had attended graduate or professional school.
Stroke Knowledge and Risk Factors
Women identified an average of 2.7 (SD 1.6) out of 6 possible warning signs (Figure 2A).
While 71.2% of women identified weakness or numbness as a warning sign, approximately
one third of respondents named vision changes (34.1%), dizziness or balance problems
(33.6%), headache (32.2%) or confusion (26%) as a warning sign. 69.3% of women identified
trouble speaking as a warning sign.Patient’s risk factors for stroke are shown in Table 2A. Women also were asked to identify any
risk factors for stroke (Table 2B). An average of 3.9 (SD 1.8) out of eleven coded modifiable
risk factors were identified. Only 3.3% of women (n=7) identified atrial fibrillation as a risk
factor for stroke. Heart disease was identified as a risk factor 16.3% of the time (n=35). Women
often did not identify their own risk factors as placing them at risk for stroke (Figure 2B). For
example, only 7 of the 37 (18.9%) women with atrial fibrillation and 11 out of the 71 women
with heart disease (15.5%) identified their own health condition as a risk factor.
Stroke knowledge, measured by number of stroke warning signs and risk factors identified,
did not correlate with worrying about stroke or risk perception in bivariate analysis.