Objective To investigate the relationship between ischemic stroke and ankle-brachial index （ABI）. Methods A total of 414 patients with acute ischemic stroke （case group） and 92 cases of acute cerebral hemorrhage （control group） were admitted from October 2008 to October 2010. The ABI was measured with simplified method. The clinical data were analyzed by SPSS 14.0 software. Results There were 33 cases with ABI〈0.9 in case group, there was no case of ABI〈0.9 in control group. In case group, the median of ABI was 1.030 0 with an interquartile range of 0.16 ; meanwhile, in control group, the median of ABI was 1.1565 with an interquartile range of 0. 14. Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that the risk factors for ischemic stroke were ABI〈0.9 （OR=3.364, CI=2.607-4.339, P＜0.001）, age （OR=3.218, CI=2.512-4.123, P＜0.001）, hypertension （OR=20.918, CI=11.747-37.249, P＜0.001）, Diabetes （OR=4.340, CI=1.948-9.669, P〈0.001）, heart disease （OR=2.539, CI=1.408-4.579, P=0.002）, obesity （OR=4.324, CI=1.536-12.174, P=0.006） alcoholism （OR =0.498, CI =0.255-0.973, P=0.041）. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that hypertension （OR=11.332, CI=5.941-21.613, P＜0.001）, age （OR=2.519, CI=1.852-3.425, P＜0.001）, ABI〈0.9 （OR=0.020, CI=0.002-0.186, P＜0.001）, obesity （OR=5.967, CI=1.641-21.692, P=0.007）, diabetes （OR=2.515, CI=0.984-6.431, P=0.054） were the risk factors for ischemic stroke. Conclusion ABI〈0.9 （by simplified method） is independent risk factor for ischemic stroke along with age, hypertension, alcoholism, obesity and diabetes.
