OBJECTIVES: To estimate total costs and resource use of acute hospital care in a sample of patients with large vessel ischemic stroke treated at our University Hospital, comparing those with and without non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF).  METHODS: We collected a sequential, prospective, convenience sample of patients 50 years of age or older, admitted between December 2010 and March 2013 diagnosed with ischemic stroke, excluding lacunar infarct, transitory cerebral ischemia, recurrent stroke or modified Rankin index greater than 2 prior to this episode. The presence of AF was sought with electrocardiogram and in some cases was studied with Holter. For a separate analysis, we matched for age and admission NIHSS score, in a 1:1 ratio, patients with and without AF. Variables measured in all cases were: age, gender, admission and discharge NIHSS, modified Rankin index, and CHA2DS2VASC score. Prospectively, we collected in-hospital resource use and costs incurred during the acute event. Exchange rate 1805 Colombian pesos = 1 American dollar (USD). RESULTS: