Ampiah_et_al., 2018 Knowledge of Stroke among Hypertensive-Diabetic Patients at the National Diabetes Management and Research Centre of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana
Abstract
Background: Achieving the requisite knowledge of stroke is still a challenge globally. Lack of knowledge about stroke, its risk factors, and warning signs results in late reporting of patients to the hospital. It appears knowledge of stroke in Ghana is seemingly poor, thus the need to investigate further.
Objective: To determine the knowledge of stroke among hypertensive-diabetic patients.
Methodology: A cross-sectional survey, involving 208 individuals recruited from the National Diabetes Management and Research Centre of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, diagnosed of hypertension and diabetes was undertaken in 2010. Participants completed a questionnaire after signing a consent form. Data was analysed using SPSS version 16.0 and the relationship between variables was determined at a significance level of 5%.
Results: The mean age was 57.3 (SD ± 11.1) and most (58.7%) participants were female. The overall knowledge of stroke among participants was high (79.18%), while marital status (p-value = 0.041), educational level (p - value = 0.001) and employment status (p – value = 0.043) had a significant relationship with overall knowledge. Friends and family accounted for the greatest source of knowledge (43%) followed by health professionals and health education programs (36%).
Conclusion: The overall knowledge of stroke among hypertensive-diabetic patients in Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital with respect to general knowledge of stroke, knowledge of risk factors, and knowledge of the warning signs was high. Marital status, educational level and employment status were predictors of the level of knowledge among the hypertensive-diabetic patients.
Recommendations: Health professionals like physiotherapists should take a keen interest in educating high-risk individuals to help reduce the prevalence of stroke in Ghana. An intervention to facilitate the reduction of modifiable risk factors of stroke effectively to reach all facets of society by health institutions in collaboration with policy makers should be implemented.
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