Blood pressure, history of hypertension and pre-admission antihypertensive therapy in cases and controls
| Variable | All | HIC | UMIC-1 | UMIC-2 | LMIC/LIC | |||||
| Cases | Controls | Cases | Controls | Cases | Controls | Cases | Controls | Cases | Controls | |
| Total | 13 462 | 13 483 | 2159 | 2160 | 1921 | 1921 | 5077 | 5095 | 4305 | 4307 |
| Age—Mean (SD) | 62.2 (13.6) | 61.3 (13.3) | 65.3 (14.0) | 64.5 (13.6) | 65.0 (13.3) | 64.2 (13.1) | 62.4 (13.0) | 61.5 (12.7) | 59.1 (13.5) | 58.2 (13.2) |
| Systolic BP—Mean (SD) | 138.0 (20.8) | 132.2 (18.2) | 138.7 (22.1) | 134.8 (17.8) | 138.5 (21.9) | 131.5 (17.9) | 136.8 (19.4) | 132.4 (18.7) | 138.8 (21.2) | 130.8 (17.8) |
| Difference case-control | Δ =+5.8 | Δ =+3.9 | Δ =+7.0 | Δ =+4.4 | Δ =+8.0 | |||||
| Diastolic BP—Mean (SD) | 81.9 (12.4) | 80.3 (10.6) | 78.3 (13.0) | 77.4 (10.4) | 80.0 (12.1) | 78.6 (10.7) | 81.7 (11.5) | 80.7 (10.5) | 84.8 (12.4) | 81.9 (10.3) |
| Difference case-control | Δ =+1.6 | Δ =+0.9 | Δ =+1.4 | Δ=+0.9 | Δ =+2.9 | |||||
| ICH | 3057 (22.7%) | – | 159 (7.4%) | – | 188 (9.8%) | – | 1415 (27.9%) | – | 1295 (30.1%) | – |
| Knowledge that high BP is associated with increased risk of stroke | 9073 (69.7%) | 8867 (67.10%) | 1757 (81.8%) | 1862 (86.3%) | 1541 (80.6%) | 1553 (80.9%) | 3178 (66.2%) | 3407 (69.7%) | 2597 (62.7%) | 2045 (48.0%) |
| History of hypertension | 7714 (57.3%) | 4772 (35.4%) | 1245 (57.7%) | 799 (37.0%) | 1396 (72.7%) | 1021 (53.2%) | 2923 (57.6%) | 1788 (35.1%) | 2150 (49.9%) | 1164 (27.0%) |
| Preadmission antihypertensives with known hypertension | 4967 (36.9%) | 3719 (27.6%) | 1072 (49.7%) | 714 (33.1%) | 946 (49.2%) | 795 (41.4%) | 1782 (35.1%) | 1376 (27.0%) | 1167 (27.1%) | 834 (19.4%) |
| ACE inhibitors | 2063 (15.3%) | 1470 (10.9%) | 544 (25.2%) | 340 (15.8%) | 584 (30.4%) | 432 (22.5%) | 667 (13.1%) | 450 (8.8%) | 268 (6.2%) | 248 (5.8%) |
| ARB | 788 (5.9%) | 881 (6.5%) | 251 (11.6%) | 211 (9.8%) | 157 (8.2%) | 197 (10.3%) | 198 (3.9%) | 354 (6.9%) | 182 (4.2%) | 119 (2.8%) |
| ACE inhibitor or ARB | 2773 (20.6%) | 2290 (17.0%) | 769 (35.6%) | 537 (24.9%) | 724 (37.7%) | 616 (32.1%) | 848 (16.7%) | 782 (15.4%) | 432 (10.0%) | 355 (8.2%) |
| Beta blocker | 1880 (14.0%) | 1279 (9.5%) | 611 (28.3%) | 334 (15.5%) | 495 (25.8%) | 394 (20.5%) | 240 (4.7%) | 247 (4.8%) | 534 (12.4%) | 304 (7.1%) |
| Calcium channel blocker | 2015 (15.0%) | 1526 (11.3%) | 399 (18.5%) | 235 (10.9%) | 239 (12.5%) | 226 (11.8%) | 876 (17.3%) | 726 (14.3%) | 501 (11.6%) | 339 (7.9%) |
| Diuretic | 1492 (11.1%) | 1052 (7.8%) | 462 (21.4%) | 305 (14.1%) | 351 (18.3%) | 284 (14.8%) | 416 (8.2%) | 303 (5.9%) | 263 (6.1%) | 160 (3.7%) |
| Alpha blocker | 184 (1.4%) | 133 (1.0%) | 65 (3.0%) | 37 (1.7%) | 40 (2.1%) | 41 (2.1%) | 61 (1.2%) | 34 (0.7%) | 18 (0.4%) | 21 (0.5%) |
Categorisation of economic level of country was based on information from World Bank in 2010, which represented the mid-interval of recruitment to the study. As the largest proportion of countries belonged to the upper middle-income category, we divided this category into two groups separated at the mid-point of GNI, with four categories of HIC, UMIC-1, UMIC-2 and (LMIC/LICs), using GNI.
Δ, mean difference; BP, blood pressure; GNI, gross national income; HIC, high-income countries; ICH, intracerebral haemorrhage; LMIC/LIC, lower middle and lower-income countries; UMIC-1, upper middle-income countries-1; UMIC-2, upper middle-income countries-2 .