Previous studies of the epidemiology of stroke in patients undergoing cardiac surgery have been based primarily on patients having coronary bypass surgery and therefore have limited applicability to the more heterogenous populations seen in the current era. We have demonstrated a relatively low incidence of stroke in a diverse contemporary cardiac surgical cohort. By enabling preoperative identification of patients at risk, our logistic model has the potential to improve preoperative patient counseling and selection and could help to define high-risk cohorts for research into stroke prevention.