Stroke risk perception among participants of a stroke awareness campaign

BACKGROUND: Subjective risk factor perception is an important component of the motivation to change unhealthy life styles. While prior studies assessed cardiovascular risk factor knowledge, little is known about determinants of the individual perception of stroke risk. METHODS: Survey by mailed questionnaire among 1483 participants of a prior public stroke campaign in Germany. Participants had been informed about their individual stroke risk based on the Framingham stroke risk score. Stroke risk factor knowledge, perception of lifetime stroke risk and risk factor status were included in the questionnaire, and the determinants of good risk factor knowledge and high stroke risk perception were identified using logistic regression models. RESULTS: Overall stroke risk factor knowledge was good with 67–96% of the participants recognizing established risk factors. The two exceptions were diabetes (recognized by 49%) and myocardial infarction (57%). Knowledge of a specific factor was superior among those affected by it. 13% of all participants considered themselves of having a high stroke risk, 55% indicated a moderate risk. All major risk factors contributed significantly to the perception of being at high stroke risk, but the effects of age, sex and education were non-significant. Poor self-rated health was additionally associated with high individual stroke risk perception. CONCLUSION: Stroke risk factor knowledge was high in this study. The self perception of an increased stroke risk was associated with established risk factors as well as low perception of general health

Self-care for common colds: A European multicenter survey on the role of subjective discomfort and knowledge about the self-limited course - The COCO study

<div><p>Introduction</p><p>Common colds are the most frequently encountered disease worldwide and the most frequent reason for self-care. According to the cross-sectional European Common Colds study (COCO), patients use as many as 12 items on average for self-care. Little is known about the influence of discomfort and knowledge on self-care for common colds.</p><p>Main objective</p><p>To understand the influence of patients’ discomfort during a cold and their knowledge about the self-limited disease course on the use of self-care measures.</p><p>Materials and methods</p><p>This COCO analysis included 2,204 patients from 22 European primary care sites in 12 countries. Each site surveyed 120 consecutive adults with a 27-item questionnaire asking about patients’ self-care, subjective discomfort during a cold (discomfort: yes/no), and knowledge about the self-limited course (yes/no). Country-specific medians of the number of self-care items served as a cut-off to define high and low self-care use. Four groups were stratified based on discomfort (yes/no) and knowledge (yes/no).</p><p>Results</p><p>Participants’ mean age was 46.5 years, 61.7% were female; 36.3% lacked knowledge; 70.6% reported discomfort. The group <i>has discomfort/no knowledge</i> exhibited the highest mean item use (13.3), followed by <i>has discomfort/has knowledge</i> (11.9), <i>no discomfort/no knowledge</i> (11.1), and <i>no discomfort/has knowledge</i> (8.8). High use was associated with discomfort (OR 1.8; CI 1.5–2.2), female gender (OR 1.7; 1.4–2.0), chronic pain/arthritis (OR 1.6; 1.2–2.1), more years of education (OR 1.3; 1.1–1.6), age <48 years (OR 1.3; 1.0–1.5), and lack of knowledge (OR 1.2; 1.0–1.4).</p><p>Discussion</p><p>Counseling on common colds should address patients’ discomfort and soothing measures in addition to providing information on the natural disease course.</p></div

Self-Care Practices for Common Colds by Primary Care Patients: Study Protocol of a European Multicenter Survey-The COCO Study.

Background. Self-care for common colds is frequent, yet little is known about the spectrum, regional differences, and potential risks of self-care practices in patients from various European regions. Methods/Design. We describe the study protocol for a cross-sectional survey in 27 primary care centers from 14 European countries. At all sites, 120 consecutive adult patients, who visit their general practitioner for any reason, filled in a self-administered 27-item questionnaire. This addresses patients' self-care practices for common colds. Separately, the subjective level of discomfort when having a common cold, knowing about the diseases' self-limited nature, and medical and sociodemographic data are requested. Additionally, physicians are surveyed on their use of and recommendations for self-care practices. We are interested in investigating which self-care practices for common colds are used, whether the number of self-care practices used is influenced by knowledge about the self-limited nature of the disease, and the subjective level of discomfort when having a cold and to identify potential adverse interactions with chronic physician-prescribed medications. Further factors that will be considered are, for example, demographic characteristics, chronic conditions, and sources of information for self-care practices. All descriptive and analytical statistics will be performed on the pooled dataset and stratified by country and site. Discussion. To our knowledge, COCO is the first European survey on the use of self-care practices for common colds. The study will provide new insight into patients' and general practitioners' self-care measures for common colds across Europe