Objective The aim of this paper was to analyse the etiologic, clinical, and therapeutic characteristics of the ischemic stroke in the comarca of Poniente, Almería, Spain.

Methods An observational descriptive study was carried out from June 2005 to June 2006 in the Hospital of Poniente. We studied 243 patients admitted to Internal Medicine Department diagnosed with ischemic stroke. We revised the clinical histories of patients using social, demographic, clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic variables. A descriptive analysis of the variables was performed using SPSS V10.1 package.

Results A total of 172 patients (70.7%) were admitted to hospital. The time course of the stroke episode was less than 6 hours (40.6%); mean age of patients 73 years (50% males) ; 94% were autochthonous workers, 6% immigrants, 72% hypertensive, and 35% had a history of previous stroke. The most common symptom was dysarthria (59%); brain CAT scan was performed in all of them within 6 hours after stroke onset, and antiplatelet drugs were given within 48 hours after stroke onset. About 30% of the patients received early rehabilitation, 12% died within the first week.

Conclusion We found clinical and epidemiologic characteristics similar to those reported in the literature; we found a lower incidence of CVD and a higher time course than the national average.