Table 2.

Clinical and haemodynamic characteristics in 91 patients stratified by tertiles according to diameter difference of the VAs

	Diameter difference of VAs (mm)			p Value
	Low 1/3 (range 0.04∼0.70)	Middle 1/3 (range 0.71∼1.17)	High 1/3 (range 1.19∼2.67)
No of cases	30	30	31
Age (year) (mean (SD))	62.7 (13.0)	62.5 (11.0)	66.2 (10.4)	0.390
Risk factors (n (%))
Hypertension	17 (56.7)	21 (70.0)	27 (87.1)	0.031*
Diabetes mellitus	11 (36.7)	14 (46.7)	10 (32.3)	0.497
Smoking	10 (33.3)	8 (26.7)	12 (40.0)	0.547
Previous stroke	8 (26.7)	5 (16.7)	5 (16.1)	0.512
Initial laboratory findings (mean (SD))
Haemoglobin (g/dl)	14.3 (1.6)	13.6 (1.5)	14.4 (1.8)	0.166
Glucose (mg/dl)	137.7 (48.0)	171.0 (74.1)	151.7 (67.1)	0.138
Total cholesterol (mg/dl)	176.0 (36.4)	171.8 (45.8)	180.4 (41.7)	0.984
C reactive protein (mg/dl)	0.36 (0.51)	0.80 (2.18)	0.69 (1.49)	0.512
Fibrinogen (mg/dl)	314.3 (72.6)	357.4 (88.3)	324.9 (74.2)	0.112
Radiological findings
M-to-S BA curvature (n (%))	10 (33.3)	15 (50.0)	23 (74.2)	0.006*
M-to-S BA elongation (n (%))	4 (13.3)	9 (30.0)	5 (16.1)	0.221
Diameter of BA (mm) (mean (SD))	3.15 (0.58)	3.16 (0.56)	3.27 (0.55)	0.660
Diameter of R VA (mm) (mean (SD))	2.29 (0.38)	1.98 (0.56)	1.58 (0.86)	0.001*
Diameter of L VA (mm) (mean (SD))	2.35 (0.60)	2.52 (0.57)	2.53 (0.97)	0.589
WSS (dyn/cm2) (mean (SD))
WSS in R VA	7.1 (2.0)	11.2 (7.7)	14.0 (8.2)	0.004*
WSS in L VA	6.9 (2.8)	9.1 (8.2)	8.5 (4.4)	0.407
WSS in BA at 80 mm	6.6 (4.0)	8.3 (5.5)	8.2 (4.0)	0.429
WSS in BA at 90 mm	6.4 (5.1)	8.5 (4.8)	8.4 (3.8)	0.308
WSS in dominant VA	6.6 (2.4)	8.1 (5.3)	6.9 (2.6)	0.449
WSS in non-dominant VA	7.4 (2.5)	12.3 (9.5)	15.6 (7.5)	0.001*

BA, basilar artery; L, left; M-to-S, moderate to severe; R, right; VA, vertebral artery; WSS, wall shear stress.

*p<0.05.