Abstract

We evaluate the impact of a regional stroke campaign. The campaign, realised in non-urban areas of Lombardy, consisted of an educational letter focused on stroke symptoms and on the importance of acting quickly in order to receive treatment. This evaluation, the first in Italy, is based on a randomised trial. It shows that the letter produced an improvement in people knowledge on symptoms, a less relevant change in their reactions to a stroke. Although there is a partial reduction of time of arrival at hospital, the impact on treatments and health is negligible. Results suggest the opportunity to combine such a campaign with strategies to reduce other sources of delay. Finally, we suggest to replicate the study on other regions to produce evidence on how campaigns work and under what conditions