Table 1.

Clinical characteristics of the studied subjects.

Characteristics	Healthy controls (n = 32)	AIS patients (n = 32)	P-value
Age (years, mean ± SD)	63.75 ± 6.24	64.63 ± 8.03	0.628
Gender (male, %)	17 (53.13%)	18 (56.25%)	0.802
Ethnicity (Han, %)	32 (100%)	32 (100%)	1
Hypertension (n, %)	2 (6.25%)	25 (78.13%)	0.0001
Diabetes mellitus (n, %)	2 (6.25%)	3 (9.74%)	0.64
Hyperlipidemia (n, %)	9 (28.13%)	12 (37.5%)	0.424
Homocysteine (μmol/l, mean ± SD)	12.93 ± 2.79	16.26 ± 5.34	0.02

AIS, acute ischemic stroke; SD, standard deviation. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Hypertension refers to a systolic blood pressure of ≥140 mmHg or a diastolic blood pressure of ≥90 mmHg or the use of antihypertensive agents. Diabetes mellitus was defined as symptoms of diabetes and a fasting blood sugar level >7.0 mmol/l, a random blood glucose level >11.1 mmol/l, a 2 h post prandial blood glucose level >11.1 mmol/l or a prior diagnosis of diabetes. Hyperlipidemia was defined as a cholesterol level >5.72 mmol/l and/or a triglyceride level >1.70 mmol/l or the use of antihyperlipidemic agents.