Table 1. Baseline characteristics of 708 registry patients with known AF at the time of the index stroke/TIA and hospitalisation within 72 hours of symptom onset (‘complete study cohort’).
| Complete study cohortn=708 | Follow-up cohortn=650 | Drop-outsn=58 | P value | |
| Age (years), median (IQR) | 78 (72–83) | 78 (71–83) | 79 (73–85) | 0.177 |
| Age groups; n (%) | 0.609 | |||
| 18–64 years | 72 (10.2) | 68 (10.5) | 2 (6.9) | |
| 65–74 years | 167 (23.6) | 155 (23.8) | 12 (20.7) | |
| ≥75 years | 469 (66.2) | 427 (65.7) | 42 (72.4) | |
| Sex (male), n (%) | 372 (52.5) | 342 (52.6) | 30 (51.7) | 1.000 |
| Index stroke: TIA, n (%) | 195 (27.5) | 179 (27.5) | 16 (27.6) | 1.000 |
| NIHSS score on admission (points), median (IQR) | 2 (1–5) | 2 (1–5) | 3 (1–6) | 0.073 |
| NIHSS score on admission (points), n (%) | 0.666 | |||
| <8 points | 612 (86.4) | 563 (86.6) | 49 (84.5) | |
| 8–16 points | 75 (10.6) | 67 (10.3) | 8 (13.8) | |
| >16 points | 21 (3.0) | 20 (3.1) | 1 (1.7) | |
| Intravenous thrombolysis, n (%) | 81 (11.5) | 76 (11.7) | 5 (8.6) | 0.666 |
| Endovascular treatment, n (%) | 51 (7.2) | 48 (7.4) | 3 (5.2) | 0.790 |
| Carotid endarterectomy, n (%) | 7 (1) | 6 (0.9) | 1 (1.7) | 0.452 |
| Cardiovascular risk-factors, n (%) | ||||
| Hypertension | 632 (89.3) | 579 (89.1) | 53 (91.4) | 0.824 |
| Heart failure | 123 (17.4) | 103 (15.8) | 20 (34.5) | <0.001 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 222 (31.4) | 199 (30.6) | 23 (39.7) | 0.183 |
| Vascular disease | 232 (32.8) | 206 (31.7) | 26 (44.8) | 0.057 |
| Prior stroke or TIA | 217 (30.6) | 196 (30.2) | 21 (36.2) | 0.373 |
| Impaired renal function at baseline | 317 (45.4) | 286 (44.7) | 31 (53.4) | 0.217 |
| Oral anticoagulation (baseline), n (%) | 432 (61.0) | 403 (62.0) | 29 (50.0) | 0.091 |
| Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, n (%) | 25 (3.6) | 25 (3.9) | 0 (0.0) | 0.255 |
| CHA2DS2-VASc post-stroke (points), median (IQR) | 6 (5–7) | 6 (5–7) | 6 (5–8) | 0.007 |
| HAS-BLED post-stroke (points), median (IQR) | 3 (3–4) | 3 (3–4) | 4 (3–4) | 0.050 |
| In-hospital stay (days), median (IQR) | 5 (4–8) | 5 (4–7) | 6 (3–8) | 0.909 |
Excluding 58 patients with incomplete 3 months follow-up information and no reported predefined clinical endpoint (recurrent ischaemic stroke, systemic embolism, myocardial infarction, haemorrhagic stroke, major bleed or all-cause death) within 3 months (‘drop-outs’), the ‘follow-up cohort’ included 650 patients. The p value is given for the comparison of the follow-up cohort and the drop-outs.
CHA2DS2-VASccongestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥75 (doubled), diabetes, stroke (doubled), vascular disease, age 65 to 74 and sex category (female)HAS-BLEDhypertension, abnormal renal/liver function, stroke, bleeding history or predisposition, labile INR [international normalized ratio], elderly, drugs/alcohol concomitantlyNIHSSNational Institutes of Health ScaleTIAtransient ischaemic attack