Table 1 Descriptive statistics of study population, at baseline. 95% CI

Sociodemographic profile

Number of patients (%)

24,415

12,215 (50.0%)

12,200 (50.0%)

3276

1560 (47.6%)

1716 (52.4%)

Age in years (mean)

76.5 (76.4; 76.7)

79.1 (78.8; 79.3)

74.0 (73.8; 74.2)

73.9 (73.4; 74.3)

76.9 (76.2; 77.5)

71.1 (70.5; 71.8)

 Elementary

46.7

51.7

41.7

43.4

48.6

38.8

 High school

36.5

34.2

38.9

36.8

34.4

39.0

 College/university

16.8

14.2

19.4

19.7

17.0

22.2

  Married

42.4

30.1

54.7

43.8

33.6

53.1

  Unmarried

11.1

8.6

13.6

14.4

10.5

17.9

  Divorced

16.7

16.2

17.2

17.5

16.6

18.3

  Widowed

29.8

45.1

14.5

24.4

39.4

10.7

Born outside the EU (%)

4.8 (4.5; 5.1)

4.4 (4.0; 4.7)

5.3 (4.9; 5.7)

6.2 (5.4; 7.0)

5.4 (4.3; 6.6)

6.9 (5.7; 8.1)

Living alone (%)

51.3 (50.7; 51.9)

64.7 (63.9; 65.6)

37.8 (37.0; 38.7)

49.4 (47.7; 51.1)

61.1 (58.6; 63.5)

38.7 (36.4; 41.0)

 Living at home, no home help services

71.3

62.9

79.8

71.3

61.8

80.1

 Living at home, with home help services

19.0

24.8

13.2

16.6

23.0

10.7

 Special housing

9.7

12.4

6.9

11.5

14.9

8.3

Medical history

ADL dependency (%)

11.4 (11.0; 11.8)

13.8 (13.2; 14.4)

9.0 (8.5; 9.6)

12.1 (10.9; 13.2)

15.9 (14.0; 17.7)

8.7 (7.4; 10.1)

Prior stroke (− 2 years) (%)

6.9 (6.5; 7.2)

6.8 (6.3; 7.2)

6.9 (6.5; 7.4)

6.5 (5.7; 7.3)

7.3 (6.0; 8.6)

5.8 (4.7; 6.9)

Inpatient care year − 1 (mean days)

5.2 (5.0; 5.3)

5.6 (5.4; 5.8)

4.7 (4.5; 5.0)

5.7 (5.2; 6.3)

6.6 (5.8; 7.4)

5.0 (4.3; 5.6)

Atrial fibrillation (%)

31.0 (30.4; 31.6)

34.2 (33.3; 35.0)

27.8 (27.0; 28.6)

21.6 (20.2; 23.0)

20.6 (18.6; 22.6)

22.6 (20.6; 24.5)

Hypertension (%)

64.7 (64.1; 65.3)

67.5 (66.6; 68.3)

62.0 (61.1; 62.8)

59.9 (58.2; 61.6)

62.6 (60.2; 65.0)

57.5 (55.2; 59.9)

Stroke severity

 Conscious

85.9

83.0

88.8

60.3

57.6

62.7

 Indolent

10.9

13.0

8.8

22.1

23.7

20.7

 Unconscious

3.2

4.0

2.4

17.6

18.7

16.7