New research suggests that most women do not know the warning signs of a stroke.
Researchers took a phone survey that included 1,205 women, an American Heart Association news release reported.
The researchers found that 51 percent of women were able to identify that numbness of one side of the face or body was a warning sign of stroke but less than half (44 percent) did not identify garbled speech as a warning sign.
Less than a fourth of the participants were not able to identify the following early signs of stroke: sudden severe headache (23 percent), unexplained dizziness (20 percent), and sudden vision loss (18 percent).
Hispanic women were the least likely than others to not know the early warning signs of stroke; 25 percent of Hispanic women did not know any compared with 18 percent for blacks and 18 percent for whites.
"This lack of recognition of stroke signs and symptoms could be a significant barrier to reducing death and disability related to stroke in the United States," Lori Mosca, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., principal investigator of the study, said in the news release. "This is critically important because delays in getting care costs lives and hinders functional recovery."
Strokes are more prevalent in women than men and are the fourth leading cause of death overall in the U.S.
The best way to recognize a stroke is by using the F.A.S.T acronym: Face drooping; Arm weakness; Speech difficulty; Time to call 9-1-1.
"It's so important to recognize a stroke and get quick treatment," Mosca, a professor of medicine and director of Preventive Cardiology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in New York, said in the news release. "Public awareness campaigns such as F.A.S.T., along with education from healthcare providers, can help raise that awareness."
