ObjectiveTo conduct an objective record of stroke patient’s retinal diseases by retinal photography, and analyze the incidence of various retinal diseases between different subtypes of stroke.MethodsFrom June to October 2007, the consecutive cases of stroke admitted to the Department of Neurology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University were prospectively registered. Ischemic stroke patients were classified into different subtypes by the Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project criteria, and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) patients were classified based on the clinical manifestation and neuroimaging. We collected other clinical data associated with the incidence of stroke. The retinal abnormalities including retinopathy, arteriovenous nicking and arteriolar narrowing were recorded. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to investigate the relationship between retinal abnormalities and stroke.ResultsThis study included 199 patients with ischemic stroke and 95 patients with ICH. Among the patients with ischemic stroke, 43 (21.6%) had retinopathy, 52 (26.1%) presented with arteriovenous nicking, and 43 (21.6%) developed arteriolar narrowing. Among the patients with ICH, retinopathy occurred in 23 (24.2%), arteriovenous nicking occurred in 14 (14.7%), and arteriolar narrowing occurred in 25 (26.3%). In multivariate analysis, retinopathy was independently associated with partial anterior circulation infarct (PACI) (P=0.029) and anterior ICH (P=0.041).ConclusionsRetinopathy is independently associated with PACI and anterior ICH. Further community-based study with large sample should be conducted to confirm the predictive value of retinal diseases on the incidence of anterior stroke.