Demographic and Cardiovascular Factors (Table 1)

The mean age of hypertensive and non-hypertensive patients was 62.3 ± 10.4 and 59.1 ± 12.5 years (p=0.064), respectively. Women comprised 54% of the hypertensive and 41% of the non-hypertensive patients (p=0.030). The mean education of hypertensives was 11.1 ±3.1 compared to 11.7 ± 2.9 of non-hypertensives (p=0.024). A history of diabetes was identified in 41% and 25% of patients with and without htn, respectively (p=0.007). 41% of the hypertensives were classified as having a history of hypercholesterolemia compared to 32% of non-hypertensives (p=0.19). Of the 1012 patients identified as having htn, 11% had suffered a previous myocardial infarction compared to 8% of non-hypertensives (p=0.51); 13% of hypertensives compared with 7% of non-hypertensives had angina pectoris (p=0.13); 6% vs. 1% had a diagnosis of congestive heart failure (p=0.18); 2% vs. 0% had a history of atrial fibrillation (p=0.62); 2% vs. 4% had valvular heart disease (p=0.23) and 5% vs. 5% had leg claudication (p=0.77); 4% of hypertensives vs. 3% of non-hypertensives had previous cardiac surgery (p=0.74); and 1% vs. 0% had previous carotid endarterectomy (p=1.00). Peripheral arterial vascular surgery and thoracic or abdominal surgery was noted among 2% vs. 0% and 3% vs. 1% of hypertensive and non-hypertensive patients, respectively (p=0.39, 1.00). Some 37% of hypertensive vs. 41% of non-hypertensive patients exercised at least two times per week and enough to work up a sweat (p=0.49), and 41% vs. 38% had a family history of stroke (p=0.32).

Cigarette smoking was classified as never in 38%, former smoker in 25% and current in 37% of hypertensive patients, while non-hypertensives were classified as 20%, 24% and 55%, respectively (p=0.001). Of the hypertensive patients, 89% reported no or occasional alcohol use; 7% reported regular or daily use; and 3% reported heavy use compared to 85%, 14% and 1%, respectively, in the non-hypertensive group (p=0.21). 26% of hypertensives and 18% of non-hypertensives had a previous history of stroke (p=0.13). 8% vs. 8% of patients in the two groups had a previous history of TIA (p=0.95). canadian pharmacy viagra

Table 1. DEMOGRAPHICS AND CARDIOVASCULAR FACTORS AMONG HYPERTENSIVES AND NON-HYPERTENSIVESa

MRI-Based Infarcts (Table 2)

Non-hypertensives had a lower mean number of old infarcts on MRI (0.94 ± 1.40 vs. 1.45 ± 1.60; p=0.045), while there was no difference in the number of recent infarcts between the two groups (1.31 ± 1.07 vs. 1.31 ± 0.93; p=0.73).
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Table 2. COMPARISON OF MRI-BASED INFARCTS AMONG HYPERTENSIVES AND NON-HYPERTENSIVES

CT-Based Infarcts (Table 3)

Non-hypertensives had a trend for lower mean number of old infarcts on CT (0.84 ± 1.21 vs. 1.13 ± 1.29; p=0.078), while hypertensives had a lower mean number of recent infarcts (0.93 ± 1.01 vs. 1.30 ± 1.15;p=0.031).

Table 3. COMPARISON OF CT-BASED INFARCTS AMONG HYPERTENSIVES AND NON-HYPERTENSIVES

Stroke Subtypes and Stroke Syndromes (Table 4)

Stroke subtypes were classified as large vessel in 21%, lacunar in 66% and acute ischemic of unknown cause in 13% of hypertensive patients, while non-hypertensives were classified as 19%, 58% and 23% for these subtypes, respectively (p=0.060). There was no difference in the frequency of stroke syndromes classified as major hemispheral (15% vs. 15%), minor hemispheral (8% vs. 11%), deep hemispheric (62% vs. 51%) and brainstem/cerebellar (14% vs. 23%) (p=0.15).
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Table 4. COMPARISON OF STROKE SUBTYPES AND STROKE SYNDROMES ACCORDING TO TOAST CRITERIA8

Multivariate Analysis (Table 5)

Logistic regression showed that the non-hypertensive African-American enrollees were more likely to be current cigarette smokers (OR=2.89, CI=1.60,5.49) and have slightly higher education (OR=1.08, CI=0.996,1.17) but less likely to have old CT/MRI-based infarcts (OR=0.46, CI=0.26,0.76). tadacip 20 mg

Table 5. LOGISTIC REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF PREDICTORS OF ASSOCIATION FOR NON-HYPERTENSIVE STATUS