Clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients and controls.

Results are median (interquartile range) for continuous factors and numbers (%) for categorical factors. ACEI – angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, ARB - angiotensin receptor blocker, N/A – not applicable, NIHSS – National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used to compare the ages between the stroke patients and the control subjects. Chi–square and Fishers' exact tests were used to compare the remaining demographic, risk factors and medications between the stroke patients and the control subjects.