Table 1.
Characteristics of Nine Included Cohort Studies in Patients with Ischemic Stroke and Atrial Fibrillation, by Sex
| Characteristic | Women, n (%) | Men, n (%) | p |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sociodemographics | |||
| Mean (SD) Age (nine studies) | 79.2 (9.1) | 76.5 (9.5) | <0.001 |
| Marital status (three studies) | |||
| Single/widowed | 54 (37.5) | 121 (65.8) | <0.001 |
| Married | 88 (61.1) | 60 (32.6) | |
| Unknown | 2 (1.4) | 3 (1.6) | |
| Education level (four studies) | |||
| ≤Grade 12 | 144 (53.7) | 213 (58.4) | 0.352 |
| >Grade 12 | 86 (32.1) | 98 (26.9) | |
| Unknown | 38 (14.2) | 54 (14.8) | |
| Social class (four studies) | |||
| Professional | 61 (24.7) | 50 (14.9) | <0.001 |
| Nonmanual | 55 (22.3) | 106 (31.6) | |
| Manual | 94 (38.1) | 78 (23.2) | |
| Unknown | 37 (15.0) | 102 (30.4) | |
| Prestroke health | |||
| In an institution (three studies) | |||
| Yes | 16 (11.4) | 28 (15.0) | 0.607 |
| No | 123 (87.9) | 157 (84.0) | |
| Unknown | 1 (0.7) | 2 (1.1) | |
| Modified Rankin Score (mRS; four studies) | |||
| 0–2 | 138 (87.3) | 184 (81.1) | 0.253 |
| 3–5 | 10 (6.3) | 23 (10.1) | |
| Unknown | 10 (6.3) | 20 (8.8) | |
| Barthel Index score (BI; three studies) | |||
| 20 | 74 (52.9) | 83 (44.4) | 0.316 |
| <20 | 23 (16.4) | 36 (19.3) | |
| Unknown | 43 (30.7) | 68 (36.4) | |
| Mean (SD) mRS | 0.7 (1.0) | 1.1 (1.1) | 0.002 |
| Mean (SD) BI | 18.6 (3.7) | 18.8 (3.1) | 0.338 |
| Medical history | |||
| Hypertension (nine studies) | |||
| Yes | 457 (60.0) | 712 (64.7) | 0.085 |
| No | 295 (38.7) | 371 (33.7) | |
| Unknown | 10 (1.3) | 17 (1.6) | |
| Ischemic heart disease (nine studies) | |||
| Yes | 248 (32.6) | 324 (29.5) | 0.210 |
| No | 509 (66.8) | 763 (69.4) | |
| Unknown | 5 (0.7) | 13 (1.2) | |
| Peripheral vascular disease (five studies) | |||
| Yes | 92 (16.2) | 123 (14.9) | 0.001 |
| No | 471 (82.9) | 670 (80.9) | |
| Unknown | 5 (0.9) | 35 (4.2) | |
| Transient ischemic attack (eight studies) | |||
| Yes | 82 (12.4) | 22 (2.3) | 0.042 |
| No | 566 (85.9) | 865 (89.0) | |
| Unknown | 11 (1.7) | 22 (2.3) | |
| Diabetes (four studies) | |||
| Yes | 49 (23.0) | 50 (19.5) | 0.648 |
| No | 163 (76.5) | 205 (80.1) | |
| Unknown | 1 (0.5) | 1 (0.4) | |
| Dementia (three studies) | |||
| Yes | 13 (5.7) | 24 (8.1) | 0.520 |
| No | 192 (84.2) | 241 (80.9) | |
| Unknown | 23 (10.1) | 33 (11.1) | |
| Smoking (eight studies) | |||
| Never | 319 (43.9) | 804 (78.5) | <0.001 |
| Current | 145 (19.9) | 92 (9.0) | |
| Former | 209 (28.8) | 39 (3.8) | |
| Unknown | 54 (7.4) | 89 (9.7) | |
| Alcohol use (six studies) | |||
| Nondrinkers | 134 (37.0) | 269 (59.4) | <0.001 |
| Not heavy drinkers | 70 (19.3) | 57 (12.6) | |
| Heavy drinkers | 90 (25.1) | 51 (11.3) | |
| Ex-drinkers | 22 (6.1) | 16 (3.5) | |
| Unknown | 45 (12.4) | 60 (13.3) | |
| Stroke-related factors | |||
| Hospital admission (nine studies) | |||
| Yes | 737 (96.7) | 1,064 (96.7) | 0.992 |
| No | 25 (3.3) | 36 (3.3) | |
| Time to hospital arrival (six studies) | |||
| ≤4.5 hours | 61 (18.9) | 121 (26.1) | 0.050 |
| >4.5–24 hours | 112 (34.7) | 157 (33.9) | |
| >24 hours | 24 (7.4) | 21 (4.5) | |
| Unknown | 126 (39.0) | 164 (35.4) | |
| Stroke severity | |||
| Mean (SD) NIHSS score (five studies) | 9.1 (8.1) | 10.8 (8.5) | 0.029 |
| Mean (SD) GCS score, reversed (two studies) | 3.3 (2.9) | 3.6 (3.1) | 0.402 |
| Loss of consciousness (five studies) | |||
| Yes | 179 (27.8) | 272 (29.7) | 0.611 |
| No | 434 (67.3) | 595 (64.9) | |
| Unknown | 32 (5.0) | 50 (5.5) | |
| Medications at discharge | |||
| Antiplatelet agents (three studies) | |||
| Yes | 108 (44.3) | 176 (53.3) | 0.040 |
| No | 136 (55.7) | 152 (46.1) | |
| Unknown | 0 (0) | 2 (0.6) | |
| Anticoagulant agent (three studies) | |||
| Yes | 71 (32.7) | 71 (25.7) | 0.146 |
| No | 143 (65.9) | 197 (71.4) | |
| Unknown | 3 (1.4) | 8 (2.9) | |
Bold denotes statistically significant results.
BI, Barthel Index; GCS, Glasgow Coma Scale; mRS, modified Rankin scale; NIHSS, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale; SD, standard deviation.