On admission, compared with the non-CE group, the CE group included older patients and more female patients, and presented lower baseline NIHSS scores, lower incidences of smoking and diabetes mellitus, higher incidence of atrial fibrillation, larger IC volume and IP volume, lower MMR, worse collateral circulation, lower PLT, higher BNP, D-dimer and troponin, shorter onset-to-imaging time and puncture-to-recanalization time, and worse prognosis (all, p < 0.05, Table 1). Here, NPPB is linked to atrial fibrillation.