FAST enough? The UK general public's understanding of stroke

Abstract

Good public awareness of stroke symptoms and the need for rapid admission to hospital can improve patient outcomes. However, evidence suggests that this awareness is currently inadequate. Therefore, it is important to identify gaps in public knowledge to target public health campaigns appropriately. This questionnaire study of 356 adults in Birmingham city centre assessed the general public's understanding of stroke, whether demographic factors affect this and the influence of a national campaign (FAST) on knowledge. The mean overall knowledge score was 11.8 out of 15; however, only 54.2% of those questioned knew that diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol were stroke risk factors. Of those questioned, 60.2% were aware of the FAST campaign. General understanding of stroke was fairly good, although it was found to be worse in the youngest, oldest age and non-white groups. Although there was good awareness of the FAST campaign, many people did not know what the individual letters meant. Based on the results of our study, we conclude that it might take considerable time for public awareness campaigns to achieve their full impact. © Royal College of Physicians, 2012. All rights reserved.