After adjustment for potential confounders, the highest quartiles of IL-6 (adjusted HR 1.36; 95% CI 1.13–1.64; P = 0.001), hsCRP (adjusted HR 1.41; 95% CI 1.17–1.69; P = 0.0003) and YKL-40 (adjusted HR 1.28; 95% CI 1.06–1.56; P = 0.01) were associated with increased risk of recurrent stroke (Table 2 and Additional file 1: Fig. S2). This evidence concerns the gene IL6 and stroke disorder.