Objective      To investigate the knowledge of stroke risk factors

perceived risk for developing stroke and stroke prevention among patients with stroke risk factors in Department of Neurology.       Methods      From January to August 2012

face to face interviews were carried out among 500 patients with stroke risk factors by using self-designed questionnaire in Department of Neurology

the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. They were asked to answer: “what were stroke risk factors”

“whether they would suffer from stroke” and “how to prevent stroke”. Multivariate logistic regression was adopted to analyze the factors.       Results      Four hundred and sixty-seven patients completed the questionnaire. Of the 467 respondents

40.7% of them knew at least one risk factor of stroke

and 15.5% knew more than 3 risk factors. The highest proportion in the response to stroke risk factors were hypertension (39.4%)

hyperlipidemia (17.1%) and diabetes (14.6%).  Patients of 44.8% were aware of their own risks of stroke. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that stroke was independently associated with education

hyperlipidemia

heart disease

previous history of stroke and the awareness of their own risks of stroke. Patients of 55.2% believed that stroke could be prevented. The most mentioned preventive measures for stroke were reasonable diet (29.3%)

appropriate exercise (28.5%)

and avoidance of emotion agitation and fall (18.4%).       Conclusion      Patients with high risk of stroke in Department of Neurology are often unable to identify risk factors of stroke

do not perceive themselves to be at risk to stroke

and are lack of awareness of the stroke preventive measures. It is necessary to strengthen health education to improve their level of awareness of stroke prevention.