[Socioeconomic characteristics of patients with stroke]

Setor de Doenças Neurovasculares da Disciplina de Neurologia de Escola Paulista de Medicina da Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Brasil.

We studied the socioeconomic status of 206 stroke patients seen at Escola Paulista de Medicina--São Paulo in the period of 1991-1992. We found that 25% of patients were less than 50 years old; men were married significantly more often than women; 82% of patients had less than 8 years of formal education and 60% of the families survived with US$ 98 to 198. The socioeconomic impact caused by a stroke is very important. Low education and poverty influence the treatment and prevention of the disease. The Social Assistance Service can detect and attempt to solve the social problems in order to obtain a better control of systemic diseases and risk factors for stroke, and to give orientation concerning the local resources.

PMID: 9109987 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]