Table 1.

Characteristics of the patients at baseline.

Characteristic	N = 32
Age, mean (±SD), years	58.7 ± 6.2
Male sex, n (%)	29 (90.6)
Body-mass index	26.3 ± 2.9
Diabetes mellitus, n (%)	10 (31.3)
Hypertension, n (%)	24 (75)
Dyslipidemia, n (%)	12 (37.5)
Smoking status, n (%)
Current smoker	14 (43.7)
Former smoker	7 (21.9)
Never smoked	11 (34.4)
Coronary heart disease, n (%)	6 (18.8)
Previous PCI, n (%)	4 (12.5)
Qualifying event-stroke, n (%)	12 (37.5)
Qualifying event-TIA, n (%)	15 (46.9)
Lesion vessel, n (%)
Intracranial segment of internal carotid artery	9 (26.5)
Intracranial segment of vertebral artery	8 (23.5)
Basilar artery	14 (41.2)
Middle cerebral artery	3 (8.8)