Baseline characteristics in patient level and 3-month composite persistence of the study population
| Variables | Composite persistence* | ||||
| Overall | Level I | Level II | Level III | P value | |
| n=18 344 | n=4397 | n=5464 | n=8483 | ||
| Patient level | |||||
| Age, median (IQR), years | 64 (56–73) | 67 (58–76) | 64 (56–73) | 64 (56–73) | <0.001 |
| Female, n (%) | 6651 (36.3) | 1585 (36.1) | 2114 (38.7) | 2952 (34.8) | <0.001 |
| Ethnicity (Han), n (%) | 17 789 (97.0) | 4246 (96.6) | 5285 (96.7) | 8258 (97.4) | 0.02 |
| Education level, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| High school or above | 5949 (32.4) | 1262 (28.7) | 1895 (34.7) | 2792 (32.9) | |
| Middle school | 4349 (23.7) | 1028 (23.4) | 1326 (24.3) | 1995 (23.5) | |
| Elementary or below | 8046 (43.9) | 2107 (47.9) | 2243 (41.1) | 3696 (43.6) | |
| Health insurance, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| UBMIS | 9527 (51.9) | 2105 (47.9) | 2972 (54.4) | 4450 (52.5) | |
| NRCMS | 7197 (39.2) | 1905 (43.3) | 2016 (36.9) | 3276 (38.6) | |
| Commercial insurance | 58 (0.3) | 16 (0.4) | 18 (0.3) | 24 (0.3) | |
| Self-payment | 1562 (8.5) | 371 (8.4) | 458 (8.4) | 733 (8.6) | |
| Family income per month >3000 yuan (US$434), n (%) | 2171 (11.8) | 493 (11.2) | 710 (13.0) | 968 (11.4) | 0.006 |
| Medical history, n (%) | |||||
| Hypertension | 11 905 (64.9) | 2369 (53.9) | 4016 (73.5) | 5520 (65.1) | <0.001 |
| Diabetes | 3772 (20.6) | 535 (12.2) | 1570 (28.7) | 1667 (19.7) | <0.001 |
| Dyslipidaemia | 2320 (12.7) | 470 (10.7) | 769 (14.1) | 1081 (12.7) | <0.001 |
| Atrial fibrillation | 1103 (6.0) | 282 (6.4) | 361 (6.6) | 460 (5.4) | 0.007 |
| Myocardial infarction | 439 (2.4) | 105 (2.4) | 123 (2.3) | 211 (2.5) | 0.67 |
| Coronary artery disease | 2068 (11.3) | 491 (11.2) | 641 (11.7) | 936 (11.0) | 0.43 |
| Previous TIA | 1002 (5.5) | 246 (5.6) | 324 (5.9) | 432 (5.1) | 0.10 |
| Previous stroke | 5508 (30.0) | 1294 (29.4) | 1612 (29.5) | 2602 (30.7) | 0.21 |
| Ever smoking | 8197 (44.7) | 1943 (44.2) | 2404 (44.0) | 3850 (45.4) | 0.21 |
| Drinking | 5579 (30.4) | 1297 (29.5) | 1621 (29.7) | 2661 (31.4) | 0.03 |
| Admission NIHSS score, median (IQR) | 3 (1–6) | 4 (1–7) | 3 (1–6) | 3 (1–6) | <0.001 |
| Type of disease, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| Ischaemic stroke | 16 563 (90.3) | 3894 (88.6) | 4950 (90.6) | 7719 (91.0) | |
| TIA | 1781 (9.7) | 503 (11.4) | 514 (9.4) | 764 (9.0) | |
| Severity of illness at discharge, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| mRS >3 | 3552 (19.4) | 965 (22.0) | 986 (18.1) | 1601 (18.9) | |
| mRS ≤2 | 14 777 (80.6) | 3430 (78.0) | 4470 (81.9) | 6877 (81.1) | |
| New stroke within 3 months, n (%) | 770 (4.2) | 235 (5.3) | 193 (3.5) | 342 (4.0) | <0.001 |
*Composite persistence was defined as the percentage (0% to 100%) of discharge medication classes that patients were still taking at 3 months. Level I: persistence=0%; level II: 0%<persistence<100%; level III: persistence=100%.
mRS, modified Rankin Scale; NIHSS, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale; NRCMS, new rural cooperative medical schemes; TIA, transient ischaemic attack; UBMIS, urban basic medical insurance schemes.