Table 2.
Patient characteristics (between brackets, data of the internal validation cohort [11]).
| Variable | All patients ∗ (n = 395) |
Atrial fibrillation ∗ (n = 94) |
Nonatrial fibrillation ∗ (n = 301) |
P value ∗∗ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical variables | ||||
| Median age (IQR), years | 72 (20) [65] | 77.5 (16) [74] | 69 (22) [62] | <0.001 |
| Age ≥ 65 years, n (%) | 269 (68.1%) [50.4%] | 87 (92.6%) [86.3%] | 182 (60.5%) [40.2%] | <0.001 |
| Male, n (%) | 231 (58.5%) [67%] | 47 (50%) [52%] | 184 (61.7%) [71.2%] | 0.044 |
| Arterial hypertension, n (%) | 246 (62.3%) [60%] | 73 (77.7%) [74.5%] | 173 (57.5%) [55.9%] | <0.001 |
| Diabetes mellitus, n (%) | 117 (29.6%) [24.8%] | 31 (33%) [21.6%] | 86 (28.7%) [25.7%] | 0.425 |
| Dyslipidemia, n (%) | 186 (47.1%) [41.5%] | 52 (55.3%) [47.1%] | 134 (44.7%) [39.9%] | 0.071 |
| Ischemic heart disease, n (%) | 44 (11.2%) [7.2%] | 18 (19.1%) [6.9%] | 26 (8.7%) [7.3%] | 0.005 |
| Chronic renal failure, n (%) | 38 (9.6%) [8.9%] | 11 (11.7%) [13.7%] | 27 (9%) [7.6%] | 0.433 |
| Bronchopathy, n (%) | 50 (12.7%) [16.7%] | 19 (20.2%) [29.4%] | 31 (10.3%) [13.1%] | 0.012 |
| Thyroid disease, n (%) | 35 (8.9%) [7.2%] | 9 (9.6%) [13.7%] | 26 (8.6%) [5.3%] | 0.780 |
| Previous ischemic stroke, n (%) | 57 (14.6%) [13.5%] | 16 (17.2%) [19.6%] | 41 (13.8%) [11.7%] | 0.411 |
| NIHSS score on admission, median (IQR) | 3 (6) [4] | 5.5 (11.5) [7] | 3 (6) [3] | <0.001 |
|
| ||||
| Laboratory measures | ||||
| NT-ProBNP levels, median (IQR), pg/mL | 214 (679) [186] | 735 (1661) [784] | 156 (436) [125] | <0.001 |
| NT-ProBNP ≥250 pg/mL, n (%) | 188 (47.6%) [41.7%] | 71 (75.5%) [79.4%] | 117 (38.9%) [31%] | <0.001 |
| Echocardiographic features | ||||
| Left atrial enlargement, n (%) | 159 (40.3%) [27.4%] | 67 (71.3%) [59.8%] | 92 (30.6%) [18.2%] | <0.001 |
| Left ventricular hypertrophy, n (%) | 157 (40.3%) [39.3%] | 47 (50.5%) [36.3%] | 110 (37%) [40.2%] | 0.021 |
| Diastolic dysfunction, n (%) | 89 (23%) [36%] | 17 (18.7%) [34.3%] | 72 (24.3%) [36.5%] | 0.263 |
| Neuroimaging features | ||||
| Cortical topography of stroke, n (%) | 223 (56.5%) [60%] | 73 (77.7%) [81.4%] | 150 (49.8%) [53.9%] | <0.001 |
| Intracranial large vessel occlusion, n (%) | 124 (31.4%) [32%] | 48 (51.1%) [51%] | 76 (25.2%) [26.5%] | <0.001 |
| Chronic cortical stroke, n (%) | 92 (23.3%) [8.9%] | 29 (30.9%) [17.6%] | 63 (20.9%) [6.4%] | 0.047 |
|
| ||||
| AF assessment | ||||
| Median telemetry duration (IQR), days | 2 (2) [4] | 3 (2) [4] | 2 (2) [4] | 0.468 |
| Median time until diagnosis (IQR), days | 3 (13.5) [2] | 3 (13.5) [2] | N.A. | N.A. |
| 24 h Holter monitoring, n (%) | 91 (23%) [17.2%] | 15 (16%) [16.7%] | 76 (25.2%) [17.3%] | 0.062 |
| 28 days Holter monitoring, n (%) | 70 (17.7%) [17.2%] | 24 (25.5%) [18.6%] | 46 (15.3%) [16.8%] | 0.023 |
IQR: interquartile range; N.A.: not applicable; NT-ProBNP: N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide. ∗Brackets indicate absolute frequency or median, as appropriate. ∗∗Comparisons between the atrial fibrillation (AF) and non-AF groups of the external validation cohort. Significant values are highlighted in bold.