Baseline characteristics by insurance status
| Variables | UBMIS (n=12 445) | NRCMS (n=10 283) | Self-payment (n=2213) | P values |
| Age, mean±SD | 65.8±12.1 | 63.1±11.7 | 61.3±13.1 | <0.0001 |
| Male | 8320 (66.9) | 5838 (56.8) | 1454 (65.7) | <0.0001 |
| Education | <0.0001 | |||
| Elementary or below | 3926 (31.5) | 6480 (63.0) | 1040 (47.0) | |
| Middle school | 3131 (25.2) | 2215 (21.5) | 483 (21.8) | |
| High school or above | 5388 (43.3) | 1588 (15.4) | 690 (31.2) | |
| Family monthly income per capita | <0.0001 | |||
| ≤1000 | 938 (7.5) | 4088 (39.8) | 333 (15.0) | |
| >1000 | 8151 (65.5) | 3399 (33.1) | 894 (40.4) | |
| Unknown | 3356 (27.0) | 2796 (27.2) | 986 (44.6) | |
| NIHSS score, median (IQR) | 3.0 (1.0–6.0) | 4.0 (2.0–8.0) | 4.0 (2.0–7.0) | <0.0001 |
| NIHSS score, categories | <0.0001 | |||
| 0–4 | 6540 (52.6) | 4683 (45.5) | 952 (43.0) | |
| 5–14 | 4991 (40.1) | 4642 (45.1) | 1088 (49.2) | |
| ≥15 | 914 (7.3) | 958 (9.3) | 173 (7.8) | |
| Cerebrovascular disease | <0.0001 | |||
| Ischaemic stroke | 9939 (79.9) | 7654 (74.4) | 1748 (79.0) | |
| Transient ischaemic attack | 1241 (10.0) | 789 (7.7) | 125 (5.6) | |
| Intracerebral haemorrhage | 1107 (8.9) | 1639 (15.9) | 296 (13.4) | |
| Subarachnoid haemorrhage | 95 (0.8) | 169 (1.6) | 33 (1.5) | |
| Unspecified | 63 (0.5) | 32 (0.3) | 11 (0.5) | |
| Smoking | 5473 (44.0) | 4260 (41.4) | 987 (44.6) | 0.0002 |
| Drinking | 3752 (30.1) | 2858 (27.8) | 713 (32.2) | <0.0001 |
| Previous stroke/TIA | 4828 (38.8) | 3085 (30.0) | 592 (26.8) | <0.0001 |
| Heart failure/MI | 603 (4.8) | 294 (2.9) | 75 (3.4) | <0.0001 |
| Hypertension | 9580 (77.0) | 7788 (75.7) | 1671 (75.5) | 0.0570 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 3605 (29.0) | 1877 (18.3) | 491 (22.2) | <0.0001 |
| Dyslipidaemia | 4374 (35.1) | 3213 (31.2) | 580 (26.2) | <0.0001 |
| AF | 1092 (8.8) | 677 (6.6) | 185 (8.4) | <0.0001 |
| Peripheral artery disease | 649 (5.2) | 379 (3.7) | 118 (5.3) | <0.0001 |
| mRS score | <0.0001 | |||
| 0–2 | 11 117 (89.3) | 9398 (91.4) | 1977 (89.3) | |
| 3–5 | 1328 (10.7) | 885 (8.6) | 236 (10.7) | |
| Antiplatelets | 9169 (73.7) | 7111 (69.2) | 1481 (66.9) | <0.0001 |
| Anticoagulants among AF | 107/1092 (9.8) | 80/677 (11.8) | 17/185 (9.2) | 0.3391 |
| Tertiary hospital | 9795 (78.7) | 5655 (55.0) | 1747 (78.9) | <0.0001 |
AF, atrial fibrillation; MI, myocardial infarction; mRS, modified Rankin Scale; NIHSS, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale; NRCMS, New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme; TIA, transient ischaemic attack; UBMIS, Urban Basic Medical Insurance Scheme.