Stroke is one of the most devastating neurological disorders. Currently, we don’t have an ideal score that predicts the prognosis of stroke patients. The CHADS₂ and CHA₂DS₂-VASc scores are well-validated tools for the estimation of stroke risk in patients with atrial fibrillation. The purpose of this study was to investigate if these scores can predict the outcomes of all the patients who suffered an ischemic stroke regardless of atrial fibrillation.

Consecutive patients that were admitted with an acute ischemic stroke were classified into subgroups according to pre-stroke CHADS₂ and CHA₂DS₂-VASc scores and after 2 years the functional outcome, stroke recurrence, major cardiovascular events and mortality were assessed.

Among the 973 patients that were included in analysis, the mean age was 56.7 (SD 15.7) and 46.6% were female. There were 226 (23.2%), 365 (37.5%) and 382 (39.3%) patients with low, intermediate and high CHADS₂ score, respectively. For CHADS₂-VASc score there were 81 (8.3%), 268 (27.6%), and 624 (64.1%) patients with low, intermediate and high, respectively. Both high-risk scores were associated with middle-term poor functional outcome, stroke recurrence, major cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality. CHADS₂ and CHA₂DS₂-VASc scores presented a high sensitivity and a high negative predictive value. CHA₂DS₂-VASc was more sensitive than CHADS₂ score.

CHADS₂ and CHA₂DS₂-VASc scores were both associated with stroke outcomes regardless of atrial fibrillation. These scores can be useful tools for the prognosis stratification of a patient with an ischemic stroke.