“…The following categorical variables (sex, presence of hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia, previous stroke/TIA, ischemic heart disease, current smoking and numbers of metabolic syndrome components) and continuous variable (age, blood glucose on admission) were used as covariates based on clinical judgment and prior literature reports. In addition, sampling time for hs-CRP (hours from onset of symptoms) was also included as an independent variable since hs-CRP concentration has been shown to be influenced by time of measurement [21,22]. Statistical significance was established at P < 0.05.…”