Abstract:
Introduction: Because of the inadequate level of public awareness of the disease, the
incidence of stroke has been sharply rising. Eventually, due to the prehospital delay, many
stroke cases could not be eligible for thrombolysis thereby poor rehabilitative outcome has
been tremendously increased. Thus, this study aimed to review the level of knowledge,
prevention practice, and associated factors of stroke among hypertensive and diabetic
patients.
Methods: A systematic review of primarily published articles (2010–2020) related to
knowledge and prevention practices of stroke was performed by searching online electronic
databases like PubMed, Google Scholar, Refseek, Science direct, ResearchGate, and manual
Google search by using the keywords and MeSH terms. Studies conducted on knowledge and
prevention practices amongst hypertensive and/or diabetic patients were included.
Results: Out of 531 searched studies, 42 articles were identified to be reviewed. The
reported overall knowledge of stroke was ranging from 4.4% to 79%. Knowledge to the
signs/symptoms of stroke was 23.6% to 87%. However, 15% to 77% of subjects were also
reported that they did not know any sign of stroke. The range of risk factor knowledge was
10.5% to 86.6%. The reported level of stroke prevention practice was 2.4% to 72% but
physical activity and weight reduction practice were relatively low. Inadequate level of
knowledge and prevention practice of stroke was related to elderly, female gender, uneducated, unmarried, rural residents, economically low, comorbidity and unemployed
individuals.
Conclusion: The current finding revealed that the level of knowledge and prevention
practice of stroke was inadequate. Hence, the finding highlights health educational programs
should be planned as an important avenue to enhance stroke awareness among the high-risk
populations
