Definitions
A detailed medical history was obtained from all patients at the time of admission. Hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure (SBP) of ≥140 mmHg or a diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of ≥90 mmHg or using antihypertensive medication. Diabetes mellitus (DM) was defined as a fasting glucose level of ≥126 mg/dl or use of antidiabetic agents or HbA1c >7%. Dyslipidemia was defined as a total cholesterol level of >200 mg/dl or low-density lipoprotein level (LDL) of >130 mg/dL. Smoking was defined as current cigarette smoking. Coronary artery disease (CAD) was defined as >50% narrowing in at least one coronary artery. Peripheral artery disease (PAD) was defined as >50% stenosis in peripheral arteries. Transient ischemic attack (TIA) was defined based on the 2009 American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) guidelines as a transient episode of neurological dysfunction in the spinal cord, retina, and focal brain without acute infarction. Ischemic stroke was defined as an infarction causing neurological dysfunction in the focal brain, spinal cord, and retina lasting more than 24 hours.