External Validation of SAFE Score to Predict Atrial Fibrillation Diagnosis after Ischemic Stroke: A Retrospective Multicenter Study
Table 2
Patient characteristics (between brackets, data of the internal validation cohort [11]).
Variable
All patients ()
Atrial fibrillation ()
Nonatrial fibrillation ()
value
Clinical variables
Median age (IQR), years
72 (20) [65]
77.5 (16) [74]
69 (22) [62]
<0.001
years, (%)
269 (68.1%) [50.4%]
87 (92.6%) [86.3%]
182 (60.5%) [40.2%]
<0.001
Male, (%)
231 (58.5%) [67%]
47 (50%) [52%]
184 (61.7%) [71.2%]
0.044
Arterial hypertension, (%)
246 (62.3%) [60%]
73 (77.7%) [74.5%]
173 (57.5%) [55.9%]
<0.001
Diabetes mellitus, (%)
117 (29.6%) [24.8%]
31 (33%) [21.6%]
86 (28.7%) [25.7%]
0.425
Dyslipidemia, (%)
186 (47.1%) [41.5%]
52 (55.3%) [47.1%]
134 (44.7%) [39.9%]
0.071
Ischemic heart disease, (%)
44 (11.2%) [7.2%]
18 (19.1%) [6.9%]
26 (8.7%) [7.3%]
0.005
Chronic renal failure, (%)
38 (9.6%) [8.9%]
11 (11.7%) [13.7%]
27 (9%) [7.6%]
0.433
Bronchopathy, (%)
50 (12.7%) [16.7%]
19 (20.2%) [29.4%]
31 (10.3%) [13.1%]
0.012
Thyroid disease, (%)
35 (8.9%) [7.2%]
9 (9.6%) [13.7%]
26 (8.6%) [5.3%]
0.780
Previous ischemic stroke, (%)
57 (14.6%) [13.5%]
16 (17.2%) [19.6%]
41 (13.8%) [11.7%]
0.411
NIHSS score on admission, median (IQR)
3 (6) [4]
5.5 (11.5) [7]
3 (6) [3]
<0.001
Laboratory measures
NT-ProBNP levels, median (IQR), pg/mL
214 (679) [186]
735 (1661) [784]
156 (436) [125]
<0.001
NT-ProBNP ≥250 pg/mL, (%)
188 (47.6%) [41.7%]
71 (75.5%) [79.4%]
117 (38.9%) [31%]
<0.001
Echocardiographic features
Left atrial enlargement, (%)
159 (40.3%) [27.4%]
67 (71.3%) [59.8%]
92 (30.6%) [18.2%]
<0.001
Left ventricular hypertrophy, (%)
157 (40.3%) [39.3%]
47 (50.5%) [36.3%]
110 (37%) [40.2%]
0.021
Diastolic dysfunction, (%)
89 (23%) [36%]
17 (18.7%) [34.3%]
72 (24.3%) [36.5%]
0.263
Neuroimaging features
Cortical topography of stroke, (%)
223 (56.5%) [60%]
73 (77.7%) [81.4%]
150 (49.8%) [53.9%]
<0.001
Intracranial large vessel occlusion, (%)
124 (31.4%) [32%]
48 (51.1%) [51%]
76 (25.2%) [26.5%]
<0.001
Chronic cortical stroke, (%)
92 (23.3%) [8.9%]
29 (30.9%) [17.6%]
63 (20.9%) [6.4%]
0.047
AF assessment
Median telemetry duration (IQR), days
2 (2) [4]
3 (2) [4]
2 (2) [4]
0.468
Median time until diagnosis (IQR), days
3 (13.5) [2]
3 (13.5) [2]
N.A.
N.A.
24 h Holter monitoring, (%)
91 (23%) [17.2%]
15 (16%) [16.7%]
76 (25.2%) [17.3%]
0.062
28 days Holter monitoring, (%)
70 (17.7%) [17.2%]
24 (25.5%) [18.6%]
46 (15.3%) [16.8%]
0.023
IQR: interquartile range; N.A.: not applicable; NT-ProBNP: N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide. Brackets indicate absolute frequency or median, as appropriate. Comparisons between the atrial fibrillation (AF) and non-AF groups of the external validation cohort. Significant values are highlighted in bold.
