Clinical characteristics at index stay by lipid-lowering therapy use at discharge
| Prescribed lipid-lowering therapy (n=427) | Not prescribed lipid-lowering therapy (n=35) | Total population (n=462) | |||
| Non-high intensity statin (n=146) | High-intensity statin* (n=276) | Any† (n=427) | |||
| Demographics | |||||
| Age (years) | 70.4 (8.0) | 68.0 (8.0) | 68.8 (8.1) | 70.7 (8.2) | 69.0 (8.1) |
| Sex, female | 57 (39) | 105 (38) | 163 (38) | 14 (40) | 177 (38) |
| Education | 12.3 (3.8) | 12.6 (3.7) | 12.6 (3.7) | 11.5 (3.4) | 12.5 (3.7) |
| Home care services | 7 (5) | 5 (3) | 15 (4) | 5 (14) | 20 (4) |
| Cardiovascular characteristics | |||||
| Atrial fibrillation | 38 (26) | 46 (17) | 84 (20) | 16 (46) | 100 (22) |
| Diabetes mellitus | 32 (22) | 50 (18) | 84 (20) | 6 (17) | 90 (20) |
| History of hypertension | 84 (58) | 146 (53) | 233 (55) | 17 (49) | 250 (54) |
| Prestroke lipid-lowering therapy | 69 (47) | 89 (32) | 160 (37) | 1 (3) | 161 (35) |
| Previous cerebrovascular disease | 41 (28) | 52 (19) | 97 (23) | 10 (29) | 107 (23) |
| Ischaemic heart disease | 30 (21) | 46 (17) | 77 (18) | 2 (6) | 79 (17) |
| Peripheral artery disease | 15 (10) | 19 (7) | 34 (8) | 0 (0) | 34 (7) |
| Heart failure | 2 (1) | 6 (2) | 8 (2) | 3 (9) | 11 (2) |
| Glomerular filtration rate (mL/min/1.73 m²) | 79 (15) | 78 (16) | 79 (16) | 77 (21) | 79 (16) |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 26.2 (4.2) | 27.0 (4.3) | 26.7 (4.2) | 26.0 (3.7) | 26.7 (4.2) |
| Current smoker | 34 (23) | 101 (37) | 100 (24) | 9 (26) | 109 (24) |
| Physically active | 36 (25) | 77 (28) | 115 (27) | 8 (23) | 123 (27) |
| Lipid levels at index stay | |||||
| Total cholesterol (mmol/L) | 4.6 (1.2) | 5.1 (1.3) | 5.0 (1.3) | 4.7 (1.4) | 5.0 (1.3) |
| LDL cholesterol (mmol/L) | 2.8 (0.9) | 3.3 (1.1) | 3.1 (1.1) | 3.0 (1.3) | 3.1 (1.1) |
| HDL cholesterol (mmol/L) | 1.4 (0.6) | 1.4 (0.6) | 1.4 (0.6) | 1.3 (0.4) | 1.4 (0.5) |
| Stroke characteristics and other comorbidities | |||||
| NIHSS discharge | 1.4 (1.8) | 1.7 (2.4) | 1.6 (2.2) | 2.0 (3.9) | 1.7 (2.4) |
| Stroke subtype (n=447) | |||||
| Large artery disease | 10 (7) | 38 (14) | 48 (12) | 1 (3) | 49 (11) |
| Cardioembolic | 34 (24) | 54 (20) | 88 (21) | 15 (43) | 103 (23) |
| Small vessel disease | 35 (25) | 62 (24) | 99 (24) | 5 (14) | 104 (23) |
| Other cause | 5 (4) | 6 (2) | 11 (3) | 1 (3) | 12 (3) |
| Undetermined or multiple causes | 59 (41) | 104 (39) | 166 (40) | 13 (37) | 179 (40) |
| Charlson comorbidity index | 3.8 (1.7) | 4.3 (1.9) | 3.6 (1.8) | 4.1 (1.9) | 3.6 (1.8) |
| Frail | 14 (10) | 16 (6) | 30 (7) | 2 (6) | 32 (7) |
| Cognitive impairment | 3 (2) | 4 (2) | 7 (2) | 6 (17) | 13 (3) |
| Independent functional status at discharge‡ | 102 (70) | 196 (71) | 303 (71) | 21 (60) | 324 (70) |
| Other secondary preventive drugs at discharge | |||||
| Antithrombotic drugs | 144 (99) | 275 (100) | 424 (99) | 34 (97) | 458 (99) |
| Antihypertensive drugs | 113 (77) | 205 (74) | 321 (75) | 25 (71) | 346 (75) |
| Total number of medications | 5.3 (2.6) | 5.2 (2.4) | 5.2 (2.5) | 4.0 (3.0) | 5.1 (2.6) |
Values are n (%) or mean (SD) (n observations). Detailed definitions in online supplemental methods.
*Defined as ≥40 mg atorvastatin, ≥20 mg rosuvastatin or 80 mg simvastatin per day.
†5 patients received ezetimibe monotherapy.
‡Defined as ≤2 on Modified Rankin Scale.
HDL, high density lipoprotein; LDL, low density lipoprotein; NIHSS, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale.