Different names for stroke: same concept?

Background: In Brazil, a number of names are used to refer to a stroke event, such as “spill”, “thrombosis”, and “beginning of stroke”. Objective: To analyze the attitudes (call to the emergency service and refer a hospital as the best treatment site) of individuals who identify a “stroke setting” in comparison to other terms.Design and setting: Cross-sectional study involving 1,477 individuals (36,4±14.8years, 52.5% female, 13,0±4,4 schooling years) from Brazil’s northeastern.Methods: We applied a survey to volunteers who were on public areas. The researcher exposed the volunteers to a typical case of stroke and asked “what is happening with this person?”, “what should you do in this situation” and “what is the best place to medically treat this person?”Results: 825/1477 (55.9%) answered “stroke”, 26.4% “spill”, 7.7% “infarction” and 2.6% “thrombosis”; 16.9% did not define what happened. Calling to the emergency service was the attitude of 592 (40.1%). A hospital was the best place for 75.4%. Individuals who answered “spill” were more often men (p<.001), nonwhite (p=.050), from Bahia state (p<.001) and had fewer years of education (p=.001). Individuals who answered “thrombosis” and “beginning of stroke” were older (p=.046) and of poorer education (p=.026). The answer to “what to do” and “best place for treatment” was not different among any of these groups. Conclusion: Despite demographic and regional differences in how to name a stroke event, the idea related to them is the same. Awareness campaigns should use other terms than stroke to improve the comprehension of lay population.