OBJECTIVES: Assess the usage of statins in hospital after an acute ischemic event and identify differences across Europe. METHODS: Consecutive patients diagnosed for Ischemic Stroke were analyzed in 2006 and 2007 in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and UK using the Stroke Analyzer database. This was a retrospective study. RESULTS: A total of 4930 Ischemic Stroke cases were enrolled from July 2006 until July 2007. Data were reported from around 300 stroke specialists, neurologists, general medicine specialists. The most common treatments administered in hospital were: aspirin 73%, statins 55%, LMWH 48%, ACE inhibitors 46%, beta blockers 21%, clopidogrel 18%. The majority of the 2726 patients treated with statins in hospital received  simvastatin 47%, atorvastatin 40% and pravastatin 8%. The most common simvastatin first doses used were: 40mg (48%) and 20mg (42%). The atorvastatin starting doses administered were mainly 20mg (34%), 40mg (27%) and 80mg (16%) atorvastatin (Spain were leading with 25% of atorvastatin patients receiving a start dose of 80mg). A total of 1023 patients (21%) were already receiving a long term treatment with a statin prior to hospital admission. Despite the fact that 56% of all ischemic stroke patients did not have dyslipidemia, 11% of them were already on statins before the stroke event. Almost 31% of patients already had a previous stroke or TIA event and 13% had a myocardial infarction more than 1 month before the current ischemic stroke event. Treatment with a statin was initiated on the same day of admission to hospital in 38% of ischemic stroke patients (46% in Germany vs 22% in Spain). CONCLUSIONS: These data are showing that statins are widely used in the acute setting with significant differences across Europe.