Despite the fact that Stroke is one of the most common killers, most women - and particularly minority women - can’t recognize its warning signs, according to new research released Tuesday.

U.S. investigators found that only one quarter of women 65 or older - who are most at risk - were well informed about the warning signs of stroke and how to prevent it. White women appeared to know more about stroke than Hispanic or black women, the authors report in the journal Circulation.

Knowing the signs of stroke is a matter of life or death, since acting early can affect how easily people recover from the episode, study author Dr. Lori Mosca of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City told AMN Health.

Mosca explained that research shows that minorities have higher death rates from stroke, and these findings may help explain why. “Stroke awareness is lowest among the women at highest risk,” she said.

“Whatever messages we’ve been giving them, they’re not reaching the target audience,” she added. “We need to find new and better ways to raise awareness of symptoms.”

The major warning signs for stroke are a sudden weakness or numbness, sudden slurred speech, loss of vision, disorientation, and a difficulty understanding.

The most common type of stroke occurs when a clot or blocked artery cuts off blood flowing to the brain. People experiencing this type of stroke do much better if treated with a clot-busting drug within a three-hour window after symptoms begin.

According to the American Stroke Association, stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States, after heart disease and cancer. However, previous research has shown that many Americans do not know what stroke symptoms look like.

To investigate how well women recognize stroke, Mosca and her colleagues conducted a telephone survey of 1,024 women 25 or older, in which they asked them about heart disease and stroke.

Mosca and her team found that more than one third of women between 25 and 34 said they were very ill informed about stroke. Only about one third of women overall said they thought it was easy to find accurate and understandable information about stroke.

Hispanic women were more likely than white and black women to say they knew very little about stroke.

More white than Hispanic women knew that sudden numbness or weakness and difficulty understanding served as warning signs of stroke. White women were also more likely than black or Hispanic women to know that sudden dimness or loss of vision might be a symptom of stroke.

SOURCE: Circulation, March 15, 2005.