Mobile Applications to Reduce Risk of Stroke

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Stroke is a devastating yet highly preventable disease. There are about 9000 strokes every year in New Zealand, 30% of which are fatal in the first year and a further 70% of survivors are left with some level of disability. While the prevalence of behavioural and other modifiable risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD) including stroke has reached epidemic proportions worldwide, there is evidence that modifying health behaviours is feasible, improves health outcomes, reduces healthcare costs and can reduce an individual’s risk of stroke by about 70%. However, the level of public awareness of stroke, its risk factors, and how to manage them is low, particularly in communities with low socioeconomic status, in ethnic minority groups and in rural areas. Preventing the occurrence of these conditions will allow individuals and their families to live longer, healthier and more productive lives. If shown to be effective, the Stroke Riskometer will improve people’s awareness about their risk of stroke, and enable better health behaviour to minimise their chances of having one. This study aims to conduct a pilot randomised clinical trial to test the efficacy of the Stroke Riskometer mobile application (which was a validated tool developed by AUT University) at improving participants’ awareness about stroke risk factors, and any corresponding changes in health behaviour. The pilot trial will also inform on feasibility issues such as recruitment, acceptability of the intervention, and design and timeframes of the full-scale trial. The findings of the study will also inform power calculations to determine the sample size for the full-scale trial.