Objectives: To study atrial fibrillation as risk factor in elderly patients for ischemic stroke. Methodology: This cross section, hospital based, comparative study of different age groups was conducted at on 458 (271 male and 187 female) patients with ischemic stroke. Patients above the age of 50 years with ischemic stroke were categorized into four age groups. Other risk factors for stroke were also taken into consideration. Data were analyzed to determine age based relationship with atrial

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... rillation. Results: Atrial fibrillation was observed in 190/458 patients (41.48%) above the age of 50 years who reported with ischemic stroke Out of which 112 (58.95%) were male and 78 (41.05%) were female. Atrial fibrillation was observed to be 11.20% in age group 50-59 years which increases to 39.85 % in the age group 60-69 years and 67.92% in the age group 70-79 years. It slightly drops to (61.11%) in the patients with more than 80 years age. No significant difference in these percentages was seen on the basis of gender. Observed through their medical record, other risk factors such as hypertension, previous structural heart diseases, previous stroke and smoking were also having similar impact, frequency of stroke in the elderly. Conclusion: The study reveals that atrial fibrillation is a major risk factor for stroke in elderly patients.