Objective:

To define the prevalence of cryptogenic stroke in patients with a diagnosis of ischemic cerebral infarction between 2007 and 2014.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study was performed that included all patients over the age of 18 who had suffered an acute ischemic stroke. Each case was evaluated using a checklist for aetiology and cardiology studies. A description was made of the population and the risk factors with univariate analysis. The association with different exposures of cryptogenic and non-cryptogenic stroke was evaluated using the Chi2 or Student’s t-test according to the type of variable. The disparity ratios were calculated for the risk factors. A multivariate analysis was undertaken for the independent variables with p < 0.1.

Results:

a prevalence of 19.71% (n = 67) of cryptogenic stroke was found in 340 patients. When dichotomising age it was observed that the prevalence of cryptogenic stroke was greater in the <45 age group, 42.31% vs 17.83% in the ≥45 age group (p = 0.003), with a prevalence ratio of 2.37. Only coronary heart disease (p = 0.04) and atrial fibrillation (p < 0.0001), were associated with the non-cryptogenic cases in the multivariate model.

Conclusions:

a slightly lower prevalence of cryptogenic stroke was found than that described in the recent literature. This could be explained by a more in-depth study in our population or under-reporting of the disease.

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