Sex, Knowledge, and Attitude of Stroke Survivors Attending Bebe Herbal Center on Risk Factors before and after Stroke.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the extent stroke survivors who attended an herbal center knew of stroke risk factors and whether significant sex differences existed. . This was a cross-sectional study conducted from January to June 2018 at Bebe Herbal Center, and it involved two well-trained assistants who interviewed 149 first-time stroke survivors after consent and ethical approval were obtained. The survivors self-reported their knowledge, attitude, and beliefs on risk factors before and after stroke. . Means of continuous variables were compared using Student's unpaired -test, while categorical variables between males and the females were analyzed using Pearson's chi-square test. < 0.05 was taken as significant.

Results: Mean age of men (64.81 ± 1.24 yrs) was significantly higher than that of women (61.39 ± 1.42 yrs) ( = 0.096, = 1.79, df = 147; < 0.05). More men than women were 60 years and above while more women than men were below 60 years. Pearson's chi-square test showed significant association of sex with education ( = 12.31; df = 3, < 0.006), occupation ( = 23.65; df = 4, < 0.001), alcohol intake ( = 24.23; df = 1; < 0.001), and smoking ( = 9.823; df = 1; < 0.001). The commonest risk factor suffered was hypertension (73.1%), followed by alcohol intake (59.1%), smoking (31.5%), and diabetes mellitus (26.7%); these affected men more than women. Male survivors unaware of their hypertensive status were more likely to have stroke than females, and age had a significant effect on the likelihood of developing a stroke; the same was occupation.

Conclusions: These survivors suffered mainly from hypertension, triggered by psychosocial problems and diabetes mellitus; their stroke seemed fueled by unrecognized hypertension, unrecognized diabetes mellitus, ignorance of hyperlipidemia, and wide-scale belief in witchcraft as risk factor. Awareness programs in the third world should take these observations into consideration.