Urinary liver-type fatty-acid binding protein (L-FABP), which is a biomarker of kidney tubule injury, has been studied extensively and established as a risk marker of acute kidney injury (AKI). The aim of this study was to investigate whether kidney tubule injury is associated with the development of AKI and mortality in patients with acute ischaemic stroke. Acute ischaemic stroke patients hospitalized in the stroke care unit (SCU) within 24h after symptom onset were prospectively investigated. AKI was defined on the basis of Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) criteria. Baseline urinary L-FABP was measured on admission. We evaluated the associations among urinary L-FABP, incidence of AKI, and 90-day mortality adjusted for renal function, albuminuria and other potentially predictive variables, using multivariable analysis. In total, 527 acute ischaemic stroke patients (342 men, median age 74years) were enrolled in the study. Twenty-seven patients (5.1%) experienced AKI within 7days of admission. In the univariate analysis, high urinary L-FABP level had positive associations with AKI [53.8μg/g creatinine (Cr) vs. 3.9μg/g Cr; P<0.001] and 90-day mortality (15.5μg/g Cr vs. 4.0μg/g Cr; P<0.001). In the multivariate analysis, elevated urinary L-FABP level (per 10-μg/g Cr increase) was independently associated with AKI (odds ratio 1.225, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.083-1.454; P=0.003) and 90-day mortality (hazard ratio 1.091, 95% CI 1.045-1.138; P<0.001). Urinary biomarkers of kidney tubule injury are independently associated with the development of AKI and 90-day mortality in patients with acute ischaemic stroke treated at the SCU.