Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of study participants
| Characteristics | Control n=251 n (%) |
Stroke/TIA n=461 n (%) |
P value |
| Age, years (SD) | 70.5 (11.6) | 69.8 (12.5) | 0.45 |
| Sex, female | 88 (35.1) | 195 (42.3) | 0.06 |
| Stroke subtypes | |||
| Large vessel atherosclerosis | – | 82 (17.8) | – |
| Small vessel occlusion | – | 86 (18.7) | – |
| Cryptogenic | – | 291 (63.1) | – |
| Stroke of other determined aetiology | – | 2 (0.4) | – |
| Vascular risk factors | |||
| Hypertension | 130 (51.8) | 294 (63.8) | 0.01 |
| Dyslipidaemia | 91 (36.3) | 209 (45.3) | 0.02 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 38 (15.1) | 113 (24.5) | 0.01 |
| Any smoking | 44 (17.5) | 118 (25.6) | 0.01 |
| Previous stroke/TIA | 0 (0) | 79 (17.1) | <0.001 |
| Myocardial infarction | 40 (15.9) | 82 (17.8) | 0.53 |
| Peripheral vascular disease | 5 (2.0) | 26 (5.6) | 0.02 |
| Sleep apnoea | 14 (5.6) | 13 (2.8) | 0.07 |
| History of heart failure | 11 (4.4) | 25 (5.4) | 0.55 |
| CHA2DS2VASc score, median (IQR) | 2 (1–3) | 5 (4–5) | <0.001 |
| Medications | |||
| Warfarin | 4 (1.6) | 4 (0.9) | 0.38 |
| Direct oral anticoagulant | 4 (1.6) | 1 (0.2) | – |
| Antiplatelet therapy | 81 (32.3) | 165 (35.8) | 0.35 |
| Beta blocker | 48 (19.1) | 82 (17.8) | 0.66 |
| Ace inhibitor | 105 (41.8) | 224 (48.6) | 0.08 |
| Statin | 79 (31.5) | 187 (40.6) | 0.02 |
| Premature atrial complexes | |||
| PACs/24 hours, median (IQR) | 37 (13–115) | 62 (20–208) | <0.01 |
| Longest atrial run, median (IQR) | 3 (0–7) | 3 (0–8) | <0.01 |
| Atrial runs >3 beats, median (IQR) | 1 (0–2) | 1 (0–4) | 0.07 |
| ≥200 PACs/24 hours | 37 (14.7) | 118 (25.6) | <0.001 |
| ≥20 beats in runs | 13 (5.2) | 27 (5.9) | 0.71 |
The data are presented as n (%), unless otherwise stated.
PACs, premature atrial complexes; TIA, transient ischaemic attack.