Objective      To investigate  how much community residents know for stroke warning signs and react appropriately to make an emergency call (120

in China) when encountering hypothetical stroke-related scenarios in Yuzhong district in Chongqing

China

and to analyze the relationship between their knowledge of stroke warning signs and awareness of emergency call.       Methods       Multi-stage sampling was used and 1 500 households were selected in 3 subdistricts of Yuzhong district

and one member of each household was chosen to join the survey. A face to face investigation was conducted by trained interviewers.       Results       A total of 941 participants completed the survey. Respondents’ awareness rate of the stroke warning signs was 32.6%-75.6%

and only 16.8% respondents had knowledge of all 5 stroke warning signs. The ratio of calling 120 for a variety of stroke warning signs was 27.1%-42.9%

and only 17.1% respondents reported that they would call 120 for all 5 stroke warning signs. Knowledge of stroke warning signs was significantly correlated with awareness of calling 120 (OR 1.96-3.34)

but even among those with knowledge of all 5 stroke warning signs

only 33.5% (95%CI

26.2-40.9) of them would call 120.       Conclusion       The community residents have low knowledge level of stroke warning signs and poor awareness of calling the emergency number 120 for stroke symptoms in Yuzhong district in Chongqing.