Table II.

Exploratory, hypothesis-generating analysis of the characteristics of patients with sickle cell and a history of stroke with presence or absence of intracardiac shunt

	Shunt present, n (%) n = 10	Shunt absent, n (%) n = 30	P value
Mean age at TTE (years)	11.2 (± 4.2)	12.4 (± 4.8)	.494
Mean age at stroke (years)	7.0 (± 4.2)	6.0 (± 4.0)	.573
Sex (% male)	50.0%	53.3%	.855
Silent infarct	2 (20.0%)	8 (26.7%)	.673
Systolic blood pressure	110.5	112.1	.669
Diastolic blood pressure	61.8	63.6	.619
Hgb at time of stroke (g/dL)	6.2	7.3	.134
WBC at time of stroke (× 109/L)	22.2	18.0	.574
Platelets at time of stroke (× 109/L)	277.8	380.8	.223
Multiple infarcts	7 (70.0%)	21 (70.0%)	1.000
Bilateral infarcts	5 (50.0%)	10 (33.3%)	.457
Abnormal MRA	7 (70.0%)	22 (73.3%)	.838
Acute illness at stroke onset*	6 (60.0%)	7 (23.3%)	.122
Headache at stroke onset†	4 (40.0%)	1 (3.3%)	.014
Pain crisis at stroke onset‡	4 (40.0%)	2 (6.7%)	.026
TR (trivial or mild)	7 (70.0%)	25 (83.3%)	.361

Hgb, Hemoglobin level; WBC, white blood cell count; MRA, magnetic resonace angiography; TR, tricuspid regurgitation.

^*Comparison remained non-significant (P = .109) when excluding patients with missing data (eg, those with silent infarction for whom clinical setting of acute stroke was unknown or others with missing data).

^†Comparison remained significant (P = .010) when excluding patients for whom headache status at onset of stroke was unknown or not reported.

^‡Comparison remained significant (P = .029) when excluding patients for whom clinical status at onset of stroke was unknown or was not reported.