Living alone predicts mortality in patients with ischemic stroke before 70 years of age: a long-term prospective follow-up study

Table 1 Baseline characteristics for cases stratified by living situation^a

	Cases
	Cohabiting (n=424)	Living alone (n=176)	P
Mean age at inclusion, years	57 (10)	56 (11)	0.37
Male	278 (66)	107 (61)	0.27
Risk factors
Hypertension	250 (59)	104 (61)	0.66
Diabetes mellitus	81 (19)	33 (19)	0.92
Hyperlipidemia	293 (75)	120 (79)	0.28
Waist-hip-ratio, gender-adjusted^b
Low	4 (1)	4 (2)	0.37
Normal	87 (22)	31 (19)
Intermediate	111 (28)	41 (25)
High	187 (48)	85 (53)
Smoking	141 (33)	92 (53)	<0.001
Socioeconomic and life-style factors
Occupation, lower education	242 (59)	122 (73)	0.001
Sedentary leisure time	60 (15)	48 (30)	<0.001
Self-perceived psychological stress	92 (23)	34 (21)	0.64
Alcohol consumption >4 times a week	27 (7)	17 (10)	0.14
Pre-stroke disability	2 (0.5)	7 (4)	<0.01
Comorbidities
History of stroke	85 (20)	29 (16)	0.80
History of coronary heart disease	71 (18)	26 (17)	0.85
Atrial fibrillation	52 (12)	16 (9)	0.82
Endovascular treatment	4 (0.9)	1 (0.6)	1.00
Stroke severity
Mild, SSS score 43-58	321 (76)	130 (74)	0.81
Moderate, SSS score 26-42	63 (15)	30 (17)
Severe, SSS score 0-25	40 (9)	16 (9)
Stroke subtype
Small vessel disease	81 (19)	43 (24)	0.63
Large vessel disease	52 (12)	21 (12)
Cardioembolic stroke	72 (17)	26 (15)
Cryptogenic stroke	112 (26)	50 (28)
Other determined stroke	38 (9)	13 (7)
Undetermined stroke	69 (16)	23 (13)

SSS Scandinavian Stroke Scale
^aData are no. (%) unless otherwise indicated
^bWaist-hip-ratio was categorized as low, normal (reference), moderate and high; gender-specific cut-offs (for men: <0.85, 0.85-<0.95, 0.95-<1, and ≥1, and for women: <0.7, 0.7-<0.8, 0.8-<0.85, and ≥0.85)

ISSN: 1471-2377