Table 1 Comparison of baseline characteristics of patients under and over 80 years of age treated with rt‐PA.

	Age <80 years (n = 139)	Age ⩾80 years (n = 45)	p value
Mean age (median;	66 (68;	85 (84;	–
range), years	24–79)	80–97)
Male	91 (65%)	18 (40%)	0.003
Hypertension	67 (48%)	26 (58%)	0.31
Diabetes mellitus	28 (20%)	8 (18%)	0.83
Current smoker	42 (30%)	3 (7%)	0.001
Prior stroke	22 (16%)	7 (16%)	1.00
Atrial fibrillation	19 (14%)	9 (20%)	0.34
Congestive heart disease	5 (4%)	6 (13%)	0.03
Ischaemic heart disease	35 (25%)	20 (44%)	0.02
Chronic obstructive	16 (12%)	3 (7%)	0.57
pulmonary disease
Pre‐treatment blood
pressure (mean±SD)
Systolic, mm Hg	156±22	163±25	0.10
Diastolic, mm Hg	83±12	82±10	0.57
Pre‐treatment NIHSS score
⩽10	56 (40%)	16 (36%)	0.60
11–15	42 (30%)	15 (33%)	0.71
⩾16	41 (30%)	14 (31%)	0.85
Early ischaemic changes	9 (7%)	1 (2%)	0.46
on CT in more then 1/3
of the MCA territory
Time to treatment	140±34	148±36	0.17
(mean±SD), min

MCA, middle cerebral artery; SD, standard deviation.