New research has shown that the majority of stroke patients do not think that they are having a stroke and thus do not seek medical help until their condition worsens.

Latha Stead, M.D., and colleagues at the Mayo Clinic studied 400 patients who presented at Mayo Clinic's Emergency Department with either acute ischemic stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA). Results showed that just 42% of patients thought that they were having a stroke, and that only 51.9% of patients thought that it was important to seek immediate medical help. Accordingly, few patients sought immediate medical help and the average time from onset of symptoms until arrival at the emergency room was nearly three and a half hours. Many patients said that they did not go to hospital earlier because they thought the symptoms would go away.

“Time is crucial in treating stroke,” said Dr Stead in a news release. “Each individual's medical background differs and affects recovery, but in general the sooner a patient experiencing a stroke reaches emergency care, the more likely the stroke can be limited and the condition managed to prevent further damage and improve recovery.”

The authors concluded: “Community knowledge of ischaemic stroke needs to be enhanced so that individuals present earlier, leading to timely management.”

Stead LG, Vaidyanathan L, Bellolio MF, Kashyap R, Bhagra A, Gilmore RM, Decker WW, Enduri S, Suravaram S, Mishra S, Nash D, Wood HM, Yassa AS, Hoff AM, Brown RD. Knowledge of signs, treatment and need for urgent management in patients presenting with an acute ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack: a prospective study. Emerg Med J. 2008;25:735-739.

News release: Do You Know You're Having a Stroke? Mayo Clinic. November 25th 2008.